The Elements of Power
by Linny27
Summary: There's a new ranger in Reefside. One with powers like those the others have never seen. The problem is... is she good or is she bad? And, is she still the same person that Tommy once knew? PRDT with flashbacks to MMPR.
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: **I own only Melissa as of right now. That's all.

**Summary: **Melissa Baker was just a regular, yet punk girl from New York when she and her family moved to Angel Grove. Now that she's back in New York from her adventures in Angel Grove, she has to once again go to California, but to Reefside where an old friend resides. Once she arrives there, her past comes back, but it doesn't really haunt her. What happens when she embraces the old Ranger ways?

* * *

**Chapter One**

_"We'll never forget you. You'll always be with us." She heard him say, a smile spread across his face._

_"I'll miss you guys." She heard herself say._

_"We got you something, so you'd never forget us." He said, taking her hand and setting an emerald and silver ring into it._

_"You didn't have to do this. I'll never forget you guys… I promise."_

She awoke with a start. She looked around her bedroom until she was satisfied that she was, in fact, there. She let out a long sigh and rubbed her eyes, making sure she wasn't seeing things. It had been a dream, that's all. Just a dream. Or had it? No. It hadn't. It was a memory. One from a long time ago.

But, it was a good dream. She raised her right hand closer to her face. She smiled as she looked at the ring on her one finger. "I'll never forget you." She repeated, softly. "But, I wonder if you've forgotten me."

She jumped as her alarm began to loudly blast her favorite radio station. She sighed as she let it go and climbed out of bed. Music always motivated her to get ready in the morning.

Her name was Melissa Baker, Mel for short. She was twenty-six-years-old with blond hair and green eyes. She was a real beauty with a slender, yet curvy body that guys would drool over. Yet, she wouldn't have anything to do with them. She was a career woman. At least, she was for the time being.

She was a writer for the New York Times. She was very good at what she did, yet her boss wouldn't give her the time of day if his life depended on it. He considered her to be the local writer and that's all, so she would never get anything important to write about. She didn't really care as long as she was getting something to write about. Of course, the problem was that no one ever read her stuff, so there was no way to get anything better.

She shuffled into the bathroom and turned on her shower. She made sure the temperature was just right before she even began to undress.

She threw her clothes on the floor as she climbed into the shower and turned on the radio in there as well. She didn't like it if it was totally quiet in her apartment. It just creeped her out, since it was so big for only one person.

She lathered up her loofa with her milk and honey body wash and began to scrub herself clean as she thought back to her dream/memory.

She had lived in New York all but one year of her life. During that year, she lived in Angel Grove, California which was the complete opposite of New York City. She remembered when she first moved to Angel Grove. She didn't want to have anything to do with anyone there, but she didn't know the area, so she was given a guide named Tommy Oliver.

She remembered the day that they met as if it was yesterday.

* * *

_She entered the school's main office, looking at those around her. She noticed some students giving her nasty looks as she walked by. She wasn't the same as she was no. She had dyed chunks of hair green and wore only black and green, her two favorite colors. She was a punk and she was trapped in a school of happy, peppy, surfer people. So, the feelings she had for them were mutual. Her eyes set on a guy with long brown hair and brown eyes. He wore all white and was very muscular. She smiled to herself when she saw him. She though he was very cute._

_"Next!" The secretary at the new students' desk called out. Melissa approached it, slowly. "Name?" She asked._

_"Um, Melissa Baker." She said, softly._

_The secretary nodded as she looked from the girl's schedule. She pulled a card from a small box and handed it to Melissa. "Here is your schedule… Welcome to __angel__Grove__High School__. Your guide's name is on the back of your schedule." The secretary wasn't in a good mood, Melissa could tell that, so she decided to quickly get out of line (one had formed behind her those two minutes she was standing there). "Next!" _

_Melissa rolled her eyes and looked at the back of her schedule for the name of her guide. "Tommy Oliver." She read. "Okay." She looked around the office to try to figure out which one was Tommy Oliver, but she just couldn't figure it out. She was usually so good at it. Maybe it was because she was nervous about her first day of school._

_She turned to look at the people who were standing on the other side of the room, when she bumped into a black girl wearing a yellow t-shirt and shorts. "Oh, I'm sorry." The girl apologized, and then looked at Melissa. "You're new, huh?" The blond nodded. "I can tell. You have that lost look on your face."_

_"I'm looking from my guide."_

_"Maybe I can help. What's their name?" She asked._

_"Um, Tommy Oliver."_

_The black girl nodded. "Ah, okay. I can help you. I'm Aisha, by the way. Aisha Campbell."_

_"Melissa Baker… Mel."_

_"It's nice to meet you. Tommy's just over here, come on." Melissa nodded as Aisha led her over to the guy with long brown hair and who was wearing all white. "Tommy, the girl you're supposed to show around is here."_

_He nodded and looked at Melissa. "You're Mel Baker?" He asked._

_She nodded. "It's Melissa, actually. All of my friends just call me Mel."_

_He nodded. "It's nice to meet you."_

_"You too." She said._

_"Well, I've got to get to homeroom." Aisha said, leaving the two be._

_Tommy smiled at Melissa and asked her to see her schedule. "Good. You have all of the same classes I do. You'll be fine."_

_She smiled. "Good." Tommy was about to speak to her again when someone called his name._

_"Hey, Tommy!" Tommy turned to see his friend and brother, Jason, calling him. "Are we still on, after school?" _

_"You can count on it!" Tommy called to his friend and turned back to Melissa. "That's Jason Scott. He's a good friend of mine…" He said. "So, where are you from?"_

_"__New York__." She answered._

_"That's cool… Um, well, let me give you a quick tour before homeroom."_

_She nodded. "Okay."_

_"Oh, by the way, Welcome to Angel Grove. I think you're going to like it here."_

_"I'm starting to already." She said, smiling at him._

* * *

_"'It's now __7:35__ and here's Scott with the weather'."_

"Damn!" She said as she came back to reality. She hadn't realized how quickly time had flown by. She was going to be late for work.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Melissa typed frantically on her computer. She needed to get her article finished before her deadline. It was a good thing that she was almost done with it.

She was done is a short minute and pushed the print button. All she needed to do was get it to her editor. It wasn't like it was an important piece of anything. It was just that she was never late to submit and article, even if there were times when there were only thirty seconds to spare.

She ran through the office, trying not to knock anyone over as she passed them. She jumped over a poor copy boy that was kneeling down to tie his shoe. He had covered his head when he saw her come running and let out a sigh of relief when she didn't hit him.

She made it to her editor's office with one minute to spare. She was panting heavily and felt as though she was going to pass out.

"You're late." The much older man said from behind a newspaper.

"Sir, I have one minute left." She explained, pointing to his clock.

He set down the paper and looked to where she was pointing to see that she was right. "Well, then… give me the article." He said. She nodded and handed him the document, her article printed on both sides of the piece of paper. "You're very impressive, Baker. Did you know that?" He asked. He didn't give her the chance to say anything. He just kept on talking. "You know the Reefside piece I've been talking about?" "She nodded, because she was still out of breath and couldn't speak. "I was going to put Richards on that assignment."

"Oh." Was all she could say.

"I _was_, then I read a few of the articles that you've given me. They were really impressive and they made me decided who to send." She gave him a puzzled, yet eager look. "Congratulations." Was all he said, a smile spread across his lips.

Her eyes went wide. "Really?" She asked.

"Really. I figured that you deserved it. You've earned it."

"Oh, thank you, sir. You don't know what this means to me!"

"Now, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. One screw up and you'll go back to where you are now."

She nodded. "I won't let you down, sir." She said.

"Good. You leave tomorrow morning. Here is your plan ticket and your voucher from the rental car place. They'll give you my personal favorite car."

"Right. Tomorrow morning… tomorrow morning, sir?"

"Yes, _tomorrow morning_. You have two weeks to give me a _great_ story. Don't leave anything out. Be the reporter I know you can be… Oh, by the way, don't worry about a hotel or anything. I have a nephew down there and he agreed to let you stay there for your visit." She nodded as she waited for him to say something else. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go home and pack!"

"Right!" She said and quickly left only to come back in. "Thank you, so much. Again, I mean." She left again.

"Oh, and Melissa?" He called to her.

She poked her head through the door. "Yes, sir?"

"Have fun and don't work _too_ hard. Reefside is a beautiful place. So, don't ruin the sights by working the entire time."

She nodded. "Is that an order?" She asked, jokingly.

"Yes… Yes, that is an order."

"Very well, sir." She said as she left for good.

* * *

She walked into her apartment, an extra bounce in her step. She couldn't believe this. She just got the chance of a lifetime. She couldn't stop smiling as she logged her computer onto the Internet. She opened up her instant messaging program and went about checking her e-mail and other things.

She had been on for only five minutes before she heard a familiar sound and a screen popped up. She had just gotten an instant message from an old friend.

PinkLady105: _What are you doing home so early? You didn't get fired did you?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **No. I didn't get fired. I've been given an assignment to go to ****Reefside****, ****California****. Can you believe it? He finally gave me an assignment! ::does happy dance::**

PinkLady105: _Congrats on the assignment… Hmm… Reefside? Huh? It's that place with all of the frequent monster attacks and the appearances of the Power Rangers, isn't it?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **Thanks. Yeah… Weird, huh?**

PinkLady105: _You can say that, yeah. But, I hear they're really good._

GreenEyedSerenity: **Well, it looks as though I'm going to see first-hand. I'd better get packing. I'll e-mail you when I get there and hook up my computer.**

PinkLady105:_ Okay. Have fun and be good. Be safe, too._

GreenEyedSerenity: **I will. Bye.**

PinkLady105:_ Bye._

Mel signed off of the Internet and went to go pack, the bounce still in her step.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Tommy sat in his empty classroom, talking on his cell phone, the only way to communicate long distance, to his uncle. "Uncle, Matt, I really don't think this is a good idea. My place isn't big enough."

"You have a whole house. She is only _one_ girl. It'll be fine. Plus, it's only for two weeks. What can go wrong?"

_'That's what I'm afraid of.' Tommy though to himself._

* * *

Melissa sat quickly in her seat on the plane. She didn't much like flying. She was always afraid that someone would try to either blow up or take over the plane. Plus, there was also the fact that she didn't like heights. But, that was another story.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, surprisingly quickly falling asleep. She began to dream about another memory.

* * *

_She and Tommy were walking through the park, talking about anything that came to mind. They had become really great friends in the two months that she had been there. Her only problem was when Tommy ran off every time the alarm on his watch went off. He always had something to do. Bu, not today. Today, he wasn't going to run off on hi. She would make sure of that._

_"So, how long have you and Kim been dating?" She asked._

_"Almost a year. It'll be a year, next month."_

_She smiled. "Wow. I don't believe I've even heard of a teenage romance ever lasting more than three months." She joked._

_"Ha ha. So, what about you? Do you have someone back home? Or did you, at least?"_

_She shook her head. "No. I never had any time. I was always so busy…" She trailed off as she watched a baby duck run after its mother._

_"So, do you miss it?" He asked, not liking the silence one bit. "The city, I mean."_

_"A little. I miss all of my friends that I wish I could call or talk to. But, all I can do is write to them… It sucks."_

_"I know how it feels. I left Angel Grove for a bit, once. I missed everyone so much. It's hard to leave behind those who care most about you and vice versa."_

_She nodded. "Boy, you got that r-" She was interrupted by a clan of gray creatures, known as putties, appearing in front of them. "Ahh!" She screamed as one of them grabbed her._

_"Leave her alone!" Tommy said, punching the putty in its Z breastplate, making it disappear. "Mel, run!"_

_"What about you?" She asked._

_"I'll catch up! Just run!" _

_She nodded as she watched him fight off three more before she ran to safety. At least, she thought it was safe. A dozen more appeared in front of her as she tried to run. "Tommy! Help me!" She cried out._

_Tommy heard her call and tan to help, but when he tried to rescue her, she and the putties disappeared. "No!" He cried out, banging his fist against a nearby tree._

_Melissa found herself to be somewhere else. She was in some sort of cell with lasers for bars. She was afraid to move, but she also wanted to know where she was. "Where am I?"_

_"You are in Lore Zedd's __Moon__Palace__." A creature that was covered in blue fur and wore gold armor said._

_"Who is Lord Zedd?" She asked. She didn't have to wait for an answer. As soon as she had finished speaking, a red monster with silver armor and a matching staff with a Z on the top stepped into her view._

_"_I_ am Lord Zedd."_

_"What do you want me for?" She asked._

_"I don't want you, you stupid girl! I want that pretty necklace of yours."_

_She reached up to her necklace, an emerald gem on a silver chain, and looked at it in question. "Why do you need my necklace?"_

_"That's for me to know." He grabbed his staff and fired a red energy beam at her. She felt to her knees from the force of power. She was in so much pain, but she didn't cry out, until the red beam was interrupted by a white one. Melissa grabbed her stomach as she felt she was going to be ripped in two. But, soon, the white beam won the battle and Melissa disappeared._

_"Blast!" Lord Zedd cried out._

_Melissa now found herself to be somewhere else. This place was more intriguing than the last. There were lights and buttons everywhere she looked. This was a computer geek's dream._

_"Welcome, Melissa." A high-pitched voice came from behind her. She turned to see where the voice was coming from and what she saw made her jaw drop._

* * *

Melissa awoke with a start as she felt the plane land. She was surprised that she had slept for so long, but she was happy that they were actually on the ground, now.

* * *

**Thanks to all of those who have read and reviewed. I appreciate all of the nice things that you've said. Please, don't hesitate to give me criticism or ideas. I can always use them, since I'm not exactly sure how long this is going to be. I have so many ideas for this thing that it could go on forever (oh, God I hope not).**

**Please, read and review. I love to hear from you. And the more reviews I get, the more motivation I get to post the next chapter!!! **

**Thanks again!**


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

****

Tommy waited in the visitor's area of the airport terminal for the girl his uncle had volunteered to stay at his house. He just wished he'd been able to talk him out of it, but it was just no use. Now, there was a New York reporter coming to his house; the command center of the Power Rangers. This wasn't going to be pretty.

He let out a long sigh as they announced that the plane had landed and the passengers were about to get off. He stood up and got into a line where other friends/family members were waiting, dreading the woman that he was going to meet.

As he saw the doors open and the passengers begin to pour out, he realized that he didn't even know what this girl was supposed to look like. In fact, he didn't even know her name. This was just great. For all he knew, he could either pick up the wrong girl or pick up his worst nightmare. That was all he needed.

He looked at each of the female passengers, trying to guess which one would be her, but it was no use. "This is hopeless!" He said, letting out an exasperated sigh and turned to leave the line. He turned back around when he heard his name being spoken.

"Tommy?" A female voice asked. "Tommy Oliver?"

He looked up to see a familiar woman's face and his eyes went wide. "Mel?" He asked.

She nodded as she walked over to him and hugged him. "I can't believe you're here… Why _are_ you here?" She asked, lightly touching his short hair, impressed that he finally cut it.

"Oh, I'm waiting for someone who works with my uncle. She's supposed to stay with me for a couple of weeks. What about you? What brought you back to California?"

"Work. I'm doing an article on Reefisde." She explained.

"Reefside?" He asked. "Wait. Are you the writer from the New York Times?"

She nodded. "Yeah, how did you know?"

He smiled slightly. "Meet your new roommate." He held out his hand for her to shake.

She just nodded slowly as she took it. "You? I'm going to be staying with you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He didn't tell you who I was, either?" She shook her head. "That's what I though… Well, Come on, let's get your bags. I'll give you a ride."

"Well, actually, I'm supposed to pick up a rental too. It's already paid for and you know, there's nothing better than a free car."

He nodded. "Okay. I guess I'll lead the way, then."

She smiled slightly at him. "Tommy?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"It's really good to see you."

"You too." He said, slinging an arm round her shoulder. "Come on. We've got some catching up to do."

"Okay."

* * *

"So, where's Dr. O. been all morning?" Conner asked, sipping a smoothie while sitting at Hayley's with Ethan and Kira. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and their teacher was nowhere to be seen.

"He had to go to the airport to pick up someone that works with his uncle." Hayley said.

"Why?" Kira asked.

"I think they're staying with him for a couple of weeks. I dunno. He didn't get too much into detail." She handed out a strawberry and banana smoothie as she spoke.

"Is that safe, that person staying at his house?" Ethan asked.

Hayley shrugged as she dished out a few more smoothies. "Apparently, he didn't have much of a choice."

"Well, let's just hope that nothing happens while this guy's staying here." Conner said.

"Yeah, right. We'll be lucky if nothing happens today." Kira spoke up.

* * *

Melissa entered the quaint little house. She was surprised at how well it was kept; especially for a bachelor. "This is nice." She told him when he entered the front door. "Cleaning lady?" She asked, jokingly.

"Thanks… no. It's just me." He said, carrying one of her bags into the guest room as he showed her where it was.

"You must have a lot of time on your hands, then."

He laughed slightly. "Not really." He set down her bags on the bed. "Uh, I guess you're going to want to get some sleep. I'll try to be quiet." He began to leave the room.

"Actually, I slept on the plane… how about a tour of Reefside?" She asked, smiling.

"Are you sure?" She nodded. "Okay."

"Great."


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

"So, what have you been doing since you left?" Tommy asked as they drove into the city, passing tall building after tall building.

"Well, when I got back to New York, I finished high school. Then, I went to Columbia University where I majored in Journalism. After that, I got the job at the Times." She explained it as if it was nothing while looking at all of the different buildings. She acted as if it had been so easy to get the job at the paper.

"I never expected you to go into journalism. Didn't you used to have a band in New York?"

"Yeah… but, you know, things change. Music wasn't really my thing, I suppose, so I went into writing. I did pretty darn well while in college."

"Well, I remember that you would get A's on every English assignment… So, I guess I should have expected it."

"Yeah, I know. I had to help you out with so many of them that you sucked up most of my time." He looked offended at that comment. "But, don't get me wrong; I had fun, too." He smiled widely as he kept his eyes on the road. "So, where's our first stop of the tour?"

"Hayley's Cyberspace. A friend of mine owns it. I think you'd be interested in meeting her and a few of my students."

She nodded in agreement. "Okay."

* * *

_Her eyes went wide at the sight before her. Standing there was a four-foot tall, red and blue robot with a gold, drum cymbal-like head. It was amazing. "Wow!" She muttered as she looked at it._

_"My name is Alpha-5." The robot spoke up._

_"Are you a really robot?" She asked, still dumbfounded, poking it in the chest._

_"Yes." Alpha giggled. She had touched one of his sensors. Apparently, one of his most ticklish._

_Melissa turned her attention from the robot and looked around the room once again. This place was nothing like she'd ever seen before. "Where am I?"_

_"You are in the __Command__Center__ of the Power Rangers." Alpha said._

_"Power Rangers?" She asked._

_"Yes, Melissa." A coming voice said from overhead._

_She turned sharply to look at a giant, slowing tube that she hadn't noticed at first glance. And inside the tube, was a giant floating head. She gasped loudly as her hand rose to her mouth. "Oh my God!" She exclaimed. "What? Who are you?" She was going to ask what it was, but she caught herself. She didn't want to offend whatever this thing was. There was no telling what it could do to her._

_"My name is Zordon. I am an intergalactic being from the distant planet of Eltar and also the creator of the Power Rangers."_

_"You mean those guys who run around in different colored spandex?" She asked, not sure if they were really called that. She saw that they were very well respected around the city, but she never really expected for them to have a group name. _

_"Well, yes... That would be them, I suppose." Alpha answered._

_"So, why am I here? What do I have to do with this whole operation?"_

_"You hold the key to a great power. And if it were used for good, Earth would no longer be in danger. But, if used for evil, this and any other planet would be destroyed." Zordon explained._

_"So, what is this 'great power' anyway?" She asked, believing this all to be an elaborate hoax. This guy was basically talking about magic and that was soemthing that she didn't believe in. Only little children believed in crockery like that._

_"Your necklace." Alpha spoke up._

_Melissa reached up and touched her necklace. "My grandmother's emerald?" She asked. "You're saying that my grandmother and my mother both held this power that could protect the planet and now I do?"_

_"Yes. But, only you can activate its power. The jewel was blessed by a long departed and very powerful being of light. It was because she knew Earth would be in grave danger someday and so she cast a spell on that emerald to which she gave her entire life force. She did that, so that when the day came, _you_, a strong-willed teenage girl, would awaken her powers and save the world."_

_Melissa looked from Zordon to Alpha and back. Her skepticism was now gone. She didn't know why, but she believed them. It was pretty hard not too. It just felt as though it was the truth. "This isn't some stupid joke, is it?" She asked._

_"No. It isn't… But, Melissa, you _do_ have a choice for whether or not you want to embrace this. The planet will be much safer with this power on the side of good." Zordon explained._

_"What happens if I don't embrace it?"_

_"The power will, then be lost until it finds another worthy host."_

_She paused before answering. She didn't want to just come out and accept a responsibility like this, but she didn't want to turn it down, either. There was no telling who or, in this case, what another worthy host would be. "Can I have some time to think about this?" She asked._

_"Of course… Take as much time as you need. When you decide, I will know and I will bring you back."_

_She nodded. "Thank you."_

* * *

**Okay, that's the end of chapter four. I hope you guys liked it. **

**I'm not really sure how long this is going to be, because I can go so many different ways, it's unbelievable... so, don't expect and end just yet. I'm already up to chapter fifteen, on paper anyway.**

**But, if you guys would like for me to add something, like if you have an idea and you think that it might work, please suggest it... I will make sure you get total credit for the idea.**

**I might include some of the old rangers, too. I know of one that I want to include, but I'm not sure if I should include the others or not... I think it might get too out of hand if I do that, what do you think?**

**Please don't be hesitant to suggest ideas... I can use them... So, I wouldn't mind if this goes on forever... But, it will have to end sometime, and I just don't want for it to end so quickly.**

**Also, please recommend this or any of my other stories to friends, family, or your e-mail groups... I can use the reviews.**

**If you make a suggestion and I decide to use it, I will post in the chapter after the review so that you know.**

**Yeah, I know this is a really long note, but it's been practically a week since I last updated, because this has been the first time I could get on the computer without interruptions, since I work all night and sleep during the day. Plus, there's the fact that there's always someone in my family on it.**

**But, please, read and review and give me your questions, comments, concerns, and suggestions. They will come in handy.**

**Thanks again.**

**Wolflver2003**


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

The black jeep pulled into the parking lot of the local hangout, the two passengers chatting away.

Melissa looked at the building. At first glance, she figured it to be the Youth Center in Angel Grove, but she knew it wasn't. There was no way that it could be. It just reminded her so much of when she was a teenager. It felt really good to remember that time in her life.

"Well, here we are. This is Hayley's." Tommy said, putting the vehicle in park and climbing out to help her out of her side of the vehicle.

"It reminds me of Ernie's." She muttered, not expecting him to hear her. But, he did.

He just smiled and shook his head. "Well, you'll think differently once you get inside. Come on." He said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her from the jeep. Melissa smiled widely and followed him into the building.

As soon as she entered the door, she felt a rush of familiarity about it. It felt exactly the same as back in Angel Grove, even if it didn't look like it. The atmosphere of it all was just so inviting and invigorating. She'd forgotten what it was like to feel like that. "Wow!" She said, softly. "This is really nice." She said as she scanned the room, her eyes setting on the three teenagers sitting on one of the couches. "Is that them?" She looked at him with her left eyebrow raised. That was her sly look.

Tommy nodded with an impressed look. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I guess old instincts are hard to lose." She said, adding a sly smile to the mix.

His eyes went wide as he figured out what she meant. All of her life she had been able to detect anything about a certain person. That ability had increased slightly after moving to Angel Grove. He figured that she must've still had it and still used it. He was impressed. That would usually get her into trouble.

"Hey, Dr. O!" Conner called to him, looking up from Ethan's computer screen. "Who's this?"

"Um, Ethan, Conner, and Kira, this is Melissa Baker. She's an old friend of mine and she's the reporter from New York that I told you about."

"Hello." Melissa said.

"Hi." Kira said.

"Yo!" Ethan said, not looking up from the computer game he was playing.

"_Hello_." Conner said, giving a sly smile. "So, you're the reporter, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm hoping to get a great story on the monster attacks. Also, I wouldn't mind getting a picture or two of the Power Rangers."

"Huh?" Kira asked.

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, I know they're really hard to get, but I'm pretty good at what I do and I think I can handle it… Besides, they used to be around when I lived in California."

"You lived in California?" Ethan asked, no longer looking at his computer and looking in awe at the casually dressed woman before him.

"Yeah, I used to live near Tommy in Angel Grove… I found the Power Rangers to be very _intriguing_."

The three teenagers gave nervous laughs as they smiled at her. They felt as though they were going to be in trouble.

"Where's Hayley?" Tommy asked, changing the subject.

"I dunno. She was at the bar a second ago." Kira said, looking for their friend.

There was silence among the five of them when there came a loud beeping sound coming from Tommy. Melissa gave him a puzzled look, but the teens seemed to know what it meant.

"Um, excuse me… it's my pager. I have to go and make a call." The three teenagers nodded as they watched their teacher stroll quickly away while Melissa just crossed her arms over her chest and gave a knowing look.

Pager? That wasn't a pager and she knew it. Tommy was up to something.

* * *

**Thanks to all of those of you who read and reviewed my last chapter. Your suggestions made me think of what to do (though I can still use more) and I promise when I include your ideas, I'll thank you in the chapter that I first include the idea... if that makes any sense.**

**Please, read and review/suggest/question/comment! It helps me to write more!!... I swear!**

**Wolflver2003**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

Melissa sat on her bed and logged her computer onto the Internet. She was bored, so she thought she'd check her e-mail.

Tommy had to run off after he got that 'page', so she took his jeep back home while he got a ride in Conner's car. He was definitely up to something, but what that was, she wasn't exactly sure of. She had an idea, but she wasn't positive if she was correct or not and there was no way for her to know for sure.

Her computer let out a small chime as she received an instant message. It was from her friend.

PinkLady105: _So, how's the trip so far?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **It's… interesting, I guess you could say. There's something weird going on, but I don't know what, yet.**

PinkLady105: _Weird? What do you mean by weird?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **Well, first off, you won't believe who I ran into.**

PinkLady105: _Who?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **Tommy.**

PinkLady105: _Oliver? That Tommy?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **That would be him, yes.**

PinkLady105: _What's he doing in Reefside?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **Teaching science at the high school, if you can believe it. But, that's not what's weird about the whole thing. That's weird is that there was this chiming noise and he said he had just gotten a page and needed to make a call.**

PinkLady105: _I don't see what's so weird about that._

GreenEyedSerenity: **He doesn't have a pager… So, do you know what I think?**

PinkLady105: _What?_

GreenEyedSerenity:** I think he's dipping into the ranger pool, again. If you get my drift.**

PinkLady105: _Tommy? A ranger again? I highly doubt that._

GreenEyedSerenity: **I said that I think he is. I'm not sure if he is or not. But, I'm willing to find out.**

* * *

_It was a beautiful day for a picnic in the park. Everyone sat around a checkered blanket and a couple of baskets of food, while talking about school science projects that were coming up._

_"It's a model of an active volcano. It even erupts lava." Rocky said. "It's really cool."_

_"Man, can't you come up with something more original?" Adam asked, throwing a grape at his friend._

_"Why?"_

_"Because, that means that Adam came up with the same idea."__ Melissa said, biting into an apple as she saw Adam blush. The others just laughed at him._

_"I _thought_ it was a good idea."_

_"It is. Someone just thought of the idea first." Aisha said, still laughing._

_But, their laughter was soon quieted when a slew of putties appeared around them, along with Goldar and a chainsaw monster. "Deal with them, w_e'll_ grab the girl!" Goldar ordered the putties._

_"Mel, run!" Kimberly said as she stood up and kicked a putty in its breastplate._

_Melissa didn't say anything as she obliged. She didn't want to be involved in this. This wasn't her fight. She ran to, and climbed, a tree, from where she could watch her friends._

_"Get her down from there!" Goldar ordered the monster._

_"Yes, master." It said as one of the chainsaws that it had for arms started up and began to cut down the tree._

_Melissa jumped from the tree and tried to run, but she was stopped by a blockade of putties. "Why me?" She asked as she tried to run in a different direction._

_"There's too many of them! We need to morph!" Billy said, being tackled by a horde of putties._

_"I'm with him! We can't take them all on!" Aisha said, flipping one over her small form._

_Tommy contemplated on morphing in front of Melissa, but he knew the others were right. He looked over at Melissa who was being attacked by Goldar. He saw her get knocked into a tree where she hit her head and was knocked out. He just hoped that she was all right before he made his decision. "Right! It's morphin' time!"_

_The group morphed and continued to fight off the putties. Tommy let the others deal with them, while he went after Goldar and the monster. At least that way, they'd be distracted from attacking Melissa._

_Both were hovering over Melissa's motionless body. "Get away from her!" Tommy cried out._

_Goldar__ turned toward the white ranger. "She belongs to Lord Zedd, now, Power Puke!" He looked back down at Melissa, a deep chuckle in his throat, only to see her disappear in a flash of green light. "Huh?"_

_"Whoa! Where'd she go?" Tommy asked. "What did you do with her, fur ball?" _

_Goldar__ didn't answer the ranger's question. He just ordered the monster to take over as he disappeared from sight._

_"Ooh! Now, it's time for some fun!" The monster said, his arms revving loudly over the rangers._

* * *

**Yeah, I know what you're thinking.... two chapters in one day? How can that be?**

**Well, I figured that since I'm wide awake, I'd upload two new chapters for you... just to make you happy.**

**Please read and review.**

**Wolflver2003**


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Mondays were bad. Anyone could've told him that.

Tommy had class, leaving Melissa all alone and that wasn't a good thing. She was bored, slightly, but she was also curious as to what Tommy was hiding from her. He had been acting awkward every time she had mentioned the Power Rangers around him. So, that meant he was definitely hiding something. Either he _was_ a Power Ranger again, which she thought was completely insane, or he was helping them. There was only one way to find out.

She wandered around his house, examining anything that looked suspicious. And seeing as though there were statues of dinosoarus all around the house, a lot seemed to look suspicious.

She found herself in his living room, after not having any luck in any of the other rooms. She examined the large dinosaur statue in the corner of the room.

She was surprised that she hadn't noticed it, before. She figured that it was all the excitement of seeing Tommy again. But, the statue was curious; too curious, in her opinion.

She lightly touched it and saw that its jaw opened. She smiled to herself and lightly pulled it down only to see a panel in the wall opened to reveal a stairway leading down. "Okay, can we say Temple of Doom?" She asked herself as she entered the stairway and began to head down it.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around at the room she had found. There were computers everywhere, along with little blinking lights and buttons. Her eyes went wide at the sight of it all. It was amazing that a science teacher would be able to afford to have this much technology in a cave underneath his house. "How'd you do it, Tommy?" She asked to no one in particular as she looked around.

She examined each piece of equipment, figuring that they were each designed for something different. But, when her eyes set on the main console, she knew there was more to this than what she expected.

She took a seat at the console and pushed one of the blinking buttons. A screen appeared and a video of Tommy began to play. "'My name is Tommy Oliver and this is my video diary…'" He said.

Melissa watched the diary intently. There were things in there that she was shocked that Tommy would know. There was only one thing that bothered her and that was the lack of her in the video. She had played a key role while alongside him and for some reason, she was left out. This made her even more curious. But, she was now positive that he was involved with the Power Rangers.

An alarm loudly sounded as the video came to an end. Another screen popped up to show a large, green gem. "Green Dino Gem detected." The computer said, showing her the location.

She stared at the screen for only a minute while she contemplated on whether or not to go after it. She didn't know what a Dino Gem was, but she figured that it had to be important, otherwise Tommy wouldn't have had his computer alert him when it was found.

But, then she realized that if she didn't go after it, this evil Mesogog, who she learned was after Tommy, would get his hands on it. She had to get it for Tommy.

She wrote down the coordinates that were scrolling on the screen and quickly ran to her rental car, a green, Ford Escort convertible. It wasn't good for off-roading, but it was the best that she could do.

She then drove off, entering the coordinates into the car's Global Positioning Unit. That way, she would get there in a flash.

* * *

Tommy pulled into his driveway as he came home to have lunch with Melissa, so she wouldn't be lonely, and entered the house. He didn't hear anything as he walked through the door, which made him figure that Melissa either wasn't there or she was taking a nap. But, the quiet of the house was just spooky. It shouldn't have been that quiet.

He furrowed his brow and tried to figure out if he'd seen the rental car outside. When he realized that he hadn't, he saw that the secret panel was opened and he knew that that couldn't be good. He quickly ran down the stairs, only to find no one there. He was confused, but for only a second.

When he saw the screen on the main console he knew what he had to do. Kira, Conner, and Ethan were still in school, so it was up to him. Melissa could wait.

"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!"

* * *

Melissa wandered through the area that was shown on the screen, trying to use her sensing ability to find the green Dino Gem. She wasn't having any luck. Her ability didn't work as good on objects as it did on people, but it was useful incase she lost something that was very important.

She rubbed her temples as she tried to relax and concentrate. This wasn't an easy ability to use, but she had had it for so long, that it seemed almost trivial to her. There was also the fact that she felt as though she was being watched and she didn't like that feeling.

She shook her hed to clear it. "I need to concentrate." She told herself. "Come on, concentrate." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't move or make a sound as she listened to what was all around her. In this case, she needed pure silence to find what she was looking for.

Then, she heard it. There was a soft humming coming from behind her. She opened her eyes and walked slowly over to a rather large tree. She put her ear up to the trunk, where she heard the humming get louder. She had found it.

"This has to be it." She looked around on the ground for something sharp to cut the bark away. She found a jagged rock and began to hack away at the bark.

It didn't take log to break through. The trunk was mostly hollow, so it was very easy to break. She set down the rock and began to break the bark away with her bare hands.

Her eyes went wide at what she saw. The gem was sparkling in the sunlight. It was beautiful.

She reached into the tree to pull it out, but she was stopped by a horde of Tyrranodrones attacking her. "What the?" She asked as they grabbed her arms. She pulled away from them and began to fight back.

She kicked one of them in the gut and turned to kick another in the head. She was surprised when she felt that their skin was so thick and rubbery. "Boy, these guys are tough." She said as she fought off two more. "I don't know if I can keep this up." She said, feeling her muscles beginning to tense up. It had been a long time since she'd done this.

* * *

_Melissa stirred slightly as she felt the coldness of the hard floor. She rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes to see where she was. "How'd I get here?" She asked, sitting up and looking around the room._

_"I brought you here." Alpha spoke up from behind her, seeming slightly nervous. "Goldar and the chainsaw monster would have destroyed you…" He paused as a loud alarm sounded. "Ai-yi-yi-yi! The Rangers are in trouble!"_

_"What's going on?" She asked as she stood up and walked over to the viewing globe. Her eyes went wide at what she saw._

_"It seems the chainsaw monster is more powerful than expected." Zordon said. "They're going to need some help. The question is… are you willing to help them?"_

_Melissa looked at Zordon and then back to the viewing globe. She watched as the Rangers were being thrown all around as they tried to fight off Goldar and the chainsaw monster. They needed her help._

_"Suit me up." She said, smiling._

* * *

Melissa landed hard as she fought off the Tyrranodrones. This was extremely exhausting and she didn't know if she could take any more. She wasn't as young as she used to be, so this wasn't as easy as it had once been.

"Don't worry about the girl! Get the gem!" She heard a grating voice call to the Tyrranodrones.

Melissa didn't care who he was, though. All she cared about was getting the gem. She quickly crawled for it and had almost reached it when she was kicked hard in the stomach and sent into another tree. "Ow!" She yelped as she lay on the ground, pain searing through her entire body.

"Stupid girl! You cannot outsmart me!"

"It's not as hard as you think, Zeltrax!" Another voice called out, this one sounding familiar.

Melissa looked up from where she landed to see the Black Ranger. "Wow!" Was all she said as she watched him and Zeltrax begin to fight. His fighting technique was amazing. He could certainly hold his ground. But, there was something about it that seemed almost familiar.

When she finally realized what was going on around her, she rolled her eyes at him. He could have been fighting off the Tyrranodrones, but instead, he was fighting someone else; someone who was just standing there. "My hero." She sarcastically muttered as she got up and ran to the gem.

She kicked two Tyrranodrones in their backs, sending them to the ground. The others turned to her and began to charge. "Oh, damn!" She said as she ran from them. She ran to a tree and ran up it, only to do a back flip off of it and land behind the Tyrranodrones who ran into the tree. "Idiots." She said as she ran for the gem, again.

The Black Ranger spotted her and knew that he couldn't let her touch that gem. There was no telling what the gem might do to her. "You know, Zeltrax, this has been fun, but I have to go pick up something." He said as he jumped over Zeltrax and ran over to the gem. He figured that the time wasn't right to destroy the Black Ranger. Zeltrax let out a growl and teleported back to his master's lair.

Melissa reached for the gem as she fell to the ground right in front of the tree. She smiled widely as she almost got it, but her smile faded as a black-gloved had grabbed it before she could.

"You shouldn't mess with things you don't understand." He said, looming over her.

"I'll remember that for next time." She said as she stood up and stared at him, not impressed by him or what he had to say.

"There'd better _not_ be a next time." He said as he ran off.

"Whatever you say…" She called to him. "Tommy." She said, softly.

* * *

**Well, there's chapter eight. Yay, me!**

**Okay, I know I've been asking for suggestions for this story and I will use them, but not for this one in particular. I'm planning on writing maybe one or two more, it depends on what happens at the end of this one and how I begin the next one. But, I know for sure that there will be at least one more.**

**I have chosen the two former rangers that I want to include. One I will try to include in this one and the other will be included in the next one. You could probably have guessed which ones I'm going to include, though. So, I'm going to just tell you: Kim and Jason.**

**I'm just not going to tell you which ones are going to be included in which one. Ha-ha to you! :) (Don't mind me, it's eight in the morning and I just got off of work an hour and a half ago. So, I'm a little loopy at the moment.)**

**But, anyway, thanks to all of you who have reviewed and who are going to review this one ::hint hint::. Please, don't hesitate to still suggest some things. I can use a few ideas for the next one that I'm going to write, and I will give you credit! I swear I will.**

**Thanks agian.**

**Wolflver2003**


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

Melissa walked through the front door of Tommy's house, rubbing her sore shoulders. "Never again." She muttered to herself as she plopped down onto the couch. "Never, _ever_ again." She said again as she lifted up her shirt so she could take a good look at her stomach. It was stinging very badly and it was beginning to bruise. She really didn't need this.

"Mel?" She heard Tommy call to her. "Is that you?"

"Yeah. It's me." She called back, pulling her shirt back down. She figured she wouldn't let him see her stomach, just yet. There were other things to worry about.

Tommy walked out of the kitchen to see her sitting on the couch. He gave her a confused look as he saw how beat up she was. "Wow! What happened to you?"

"Oh, the usual. Went for a hike in the woods... got attacked by monsters... talked with one of the new Power Rangers—I liked that—and…" She paused for a second. "Oh yeah, and I got the crap kicked out of me... You know, stuff like that." She said, sarcastically.

"You okay?" He seemed really concerned for her.

She thought it was sweet of him to care, for maybe a second. He was still hiding everything from her and she didnt' like it when people did that. "I should be fine. I just need to soak in the tub for a day or… four. Then, I'll be good as new." She was exaggerating which only made him laugh. She could always make a joke out of any bad situation.

"So, you got to talk to a Power Ranger, huh?" She nodded. "Why was he there?"

"Well, I was walking through the woods and I started to hear this humming." She couldn't tell him the truth. She didn't know what he'd say to her if she did. "So, I continue to walk and I hear it getting louder. So, I follow the sound to a tree where it was hidden…"

* * *

"So, Dr. O., you said that you and this Mel girl used to be friends in high school, right?" Conner asked as the four of them sat in the secret lab. 

"I think she's a bit old for you, Conner." Kira said, looking disgusted at her jock friend.

"That's not what I was going to ask." He said, looking very offended.

"Then, what were you going to ask?" Tommy asked as he sat at the main console, typing something on the green Dino Gem as another computer scanned it.

"Did she ever figure out that you were a ranger?"

Tommy wasn't expecting that question. It was obvious that the others didn't expect it either. But, he didn't know what to say. He could give the truth, but he figured that they just wouldn't understand it. So, he decided to lie. "No. She didn't and she still doesn't know."

"Are you going to tell her?" Ethan asked.

"I'm not really sure… I don't know how she'd take it. She was like a sister to me. I told her everything. But, this was and still is a big thing. I don't think she'd understand it." He was only telling a half truth. He wasn't exactly sure if he would tell her. _'Why would she need to know, anyway?'_ He asked himself.

He couldn't answer himself, though it made him remember the day things changed for him and the Rangers.

* * *

_They were still getting slammed by Goldar and the chainsaw monster. They couldn't believe how strong this monster was. They couldn't even defeat him as a group. They were in very big trouble._

_"He's too strong!" Adam said, falling to his knees._

_"We have to keep fighting!" Rocky cried out._

_"We need help!" Billy said, lying on the ground after he was struck by the monster._

_"Ha-ha, Power Pukes! I've finally defeated you! Your planet is doomed!" Goldar cheered._

_"Don't be so sure of that, Monkey Boy!" A female voice cried out._

_The other rangers looked up to see what was going on only to see a new ranger. A new _green_ ranger! Her uniform was almost like theirs, except for the green jewel set in a golden chest plate._

_"Wha? Who are you?" Goldar asked._

_"The new Green Ranger.__ Nice to meet you." She said, setting her hands on her hips._

_"She's a Power Ranger… get her!" Goldar ordered to the chainsaw monster after staring in awe of her for a second._

_"Right… Hm… Pretty girl… Too bad I'm going to have to cut you up." He said, his arms revving up._

_"I'd like to see you try." She said, getting into her fighting stance. The monster charged at her, but she just jumped over him and landed softly on her feet. "You'll have to try harder than that!" She called to him._

_"Whoa! Who is that?" Adam asked._

_"I've never seen her before." Aisha said._

_"Why didn't Zordon tell us about her?" Kimberly asked._

_"Green Serpent Power Strike!" The new ranger cried out as the gem in her chest plate began to glow. It then fired a bolt of green energy at the monster. It flew back and hit the ground very hard._

_"You'll pay for that!" Goldar said as he charged toward her._

_"Power Saber!" She cried out as she pulled a saber from her belt. The sound of metal hitting metal filled the area as her sword struck Goldar's._

_"You may think you're more powerful, but you will fall just like they did." He said, pulling away from her._

_"How much do you want to bet?" She asked, slyly. "Saber Strike!" She cried out as her sword charged up. She pointed the blade at Goldar and energy balls flew out of the tip of it and they struck the blue-furred monster square in the chest. He flew back and hit the ground much harder than the chainsaw monster had._

_"Take care of them!" He ordered right before he teleported out of there, panting from the pain._

_The chainsaw monster charged back at her. She just dodged his attack and kicked it in the back. It stumbled slightly as it picked up one of Zedd's growing potions. "This is getting tiresome! I think it's time to grow!" _

_She watched as the monster grew story after story tall. "Well, that's just wrong." She said as she looked up at it._

_"Don't worry. We can take it from here!" Tommy said as he and the others called for their Zords._

_She watched from the ground as they formed the Megatigerzord. (AN: thanks to for the name. I couldn't remember.) They were doing very good in the beginning, but they soon began to stagger. She knew she had to help them._

_"Serpent Zord!" She called out and touched the gem in her chest plate._

_A snake-like Zord pulled itself from a mountainside and joined the Megatigerzord by wrapping itself around the body of the collection of zords and creating a shield for the Megatigerzord, which made it become the Serpa-mega-tigerzord._

_The new green ranger didn't join the others in the Serpa-mega-tigerzord, leaving Tommy in charge of the whole operation. She was positive that he'd be able to handle it. _

_"Wow! Our energy has never been this strong." Billy said. "We can defeat him in one final swipe."_

_"Right." Tommy said. "Serpashield, Power Up!" He cried out. The shield began to glow. "Serpent Tongue Blast… fire!" The shield fired shot a stream of energy at the chainsaw monster. The monster was surrounded by the green-colored energy. It glowed for only a second, before it combusted in front of their eyes._

_"Yes!" Kimberly cheered._

_"We did it!" Rocky said._

_"Woo-hoo!" Adam rooted._

_"Awesome!" Tommy complimented._

_"Now, that was cool." Aisha commented._

_"Excellent." Billy chimed it._

_The rangers exited the zords, expecting to speak to the green ranger, but when they reached the ground she was gone._

_"Do you think we'll see her again?" Kimberly asked._

_"I'd bet my life on it." Tommy answered._

* * *

**Yay! Another chapter, done and posted. **

**I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed this and has loved every minute of it. It's because of you that I do this... well, that and because I get really bored on my days off. :)**

**Keep 'em coming!**


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Tommy was gone again, leaving Melissa alone in his house. And that made her very happy, at this point. She wondered if he had placed the gem down in the lab, because she knew that he didn't yet suspect that she was the one who'd opened the panel. She was good at making things up, it seemed. But, she didn't care if he suspected her or not. She just _had_ to get a closer look at it.

She opened the panel and walked down the stairs that led into the lair. She was surprised when she saw the gem sitting out in the open. It had to be a trick that Tommy had set, but she didn't care. She felt as though the gem was calling to her, so she had to pick it up and hold it in her hands.

She slowly approached it, her eyes never leaving the precious jewel.

* * *

Tommy sat at a table in the courtyard of the school, during his lunch break. He sat there grading tests and keeping a close eye on Conner, Ethan, and Kira. He was making sure that they were close by just in case he needed them. Melissa had been right. He had set a trap for whoever had broken into the lab. He wanted to know who had been able to know about it being in his house. So, the teens being near him would be a good thing, just incase the alarm went off.

"Dr. Oliver!" He heard a female voice call to him.

He looked up from his papers to see who was calling him. He let out an exasperated sigh as he saw who it was. "Hello, Principal Randall." He said, smiling as kindly as he could.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" She asked as she looked up at the clear, blue sky.

"Yeah, it is… Um, if you don't mind, I have tests to grade." He didn't want to talk to her any longer than he had to. She disturbed him, but he didn't exactly know why. There was just something about her that didn't seem right.

"Of course. We'll talk later, then?" He nodded. "Perfect. Ta-ta!" She said as she walked away from him.

He shuddered slightly as he felt the relief of her departure. But, his relief left as the alarm on his bracelet went off. "Excellent." He said. "Conner… Kira… Ethan!" He called to them. They each obliged and quickly ran over to their teacher.

"What's up?" Ethan asked.

"Someone's entered the lair. They're going after the gem. We've got to stop them."

"What'll happen if they get it?" Kira asked.

"As far as I can tell, the gem can go either way. If it's someone good, then the gem will be good. If they're evil…" He trailed off, slightly. "Well, I'd rather not think about that."

"Well, why are we standing here, then? Let's go!" Conner said.

* * *

Melissa held the gem in her hand. Her eyes were wide in amazement as it started to shake. She was surprised when it turned into a sheet of metal that was laying flat in her opened hand. She was even more surprised when it wrapped itself around her wrist. "Huh?" She asked as she felt herself begin to change. She watched as a force of energy formed around her and formed itself into a green and white ranger suit with a gold chest plate, like her former uniform had, and a green gem in the center of it. "Not again!" She said as she was quickly changed back to normal when she heard the front door open and four pairs of footsteps running down the stairs.

She felt like she was going to panic as she realized how Tommy was going to react when he saw that the gem was gone. She quickly stood in front of the table that the gem had been sitting on to hide the fact that it was gone. She also hid her left wrist behind her back to hide the new piece of jewelry she'd received, but for some reason, she didn't believe that this was going to work.

She saw Tommy reach the bottom of the stairs first and the surprised expression on his face.

"Mel?" He asked, that being all he could say as his students reached the bottom of the stairs. "How?" He asked.

She wanted to lie to him, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it, again. She didn't like doing it in the first place. Why she did it before, she didn't know. It just felt right at that moment.

Then, she knew what she should do. She took a deep breath and put on a cocky expression. She wanted to prove a point. "Did you really think you could hide this from me?" She asked. "I mean, it's pretty obvious, Tommy. The colors… the teenagers… the personalities… What does it all remind you of?"

"You were the one who broke in here the last time, weren't you?" He asked. She just nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to… believe me, but something inside of me told me that I shouldn't." She pulled her arm from behind her back and began to "talk" with it, like she usually did, before she realized that she was doing it.

Tommy noticed that she had the bracelet on her hand and looked at her in shock. "You?" He asked. "The gem chose _you_?"

She gave him a puzzled look as she lightly touched the gem. "You act as though I wanted this. Believe me, once is enough for me… I can't help it that I was chosen for something like this… again."

"Why does it seem like you've done this before?" Kira asked, with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Because we have." Tommy said.

Melissa looked at the confused looks the teenagers were giving their teacher. "You didn't tell them, did you?" She asked.

"They didn't need to know." He said, walking away from her and back up the stairs. He didn't want to look at her in the eye. Infact, he didn't want to look at her at all.

She realized what this was all about. Why she was cut out of the video diary, why he didn't tell her about this in the first place, why he was being so protective of her. "I don't believe you, Tommy." She said as she followed him up the stairs and stopped him in the living room. "That was a long time ago. I was a different person, then. I've changed, just as you have… You have to stop being so protective of me." The sun from the beautiful afternoon quickly vanished and a thunderclap was heard overhead.

"It wasn't supposed to rain today, was it?" Ethan asked. Conner and Kira just shrugged as they tried to listen to the conversation.

"I don't want that to happen to you, again." He said. "These powers are dangerous, Mel. I don't want you to go through something like that again. I just felt terrible when it happened." Another thunderclap shook the area. Tommy gave a puzzled look as he thought that this was very eerie.

"How do you know that something like that will happen again?" She asked, her voice now softened as she spoke to him.

"I don't, but I don't want to lose you. You were the closest thing to a sister that I've ever had and I don't want to have to do something that I might, one day, regret… Please don't do this." He begged.

"Are you guys just as confused as I am?" Conner asked.

"Actually, I think more so than usual." Kira said.

Melissa placed a caring hand on his cheek. "Tommy, please don't ask me to do something that I know is wrong. You need me… and I am willing to help. There aren't too many who are… I'll be fine… I promise." She said, smiling sweetly at him.

The teens smiled slightly at the two before them. They were like family and they thought that was very unusual for two people like them. That and the thunder had stopped and the sun was coming back out.

Tommy looked at her with a stone-faced expression. He wasn't even paying attention to the weather anymore. "Let me think about it." He said, before he walked out of the house and back to his jeep.

The teens each gave Melissa caring looks. "Don't worry. He'll soften up." Kira said.

"Yeah, why's he so worried about you, anyway?" Conner asked.

"It's a long story that I'm going to have to tell you guys later… You should get back to school." Melissa said, softly as she watched Tommy sitting in his jeep, waiting for his students.

"Okay." Ethan said. "We'll be waiting for it. How about you tell us at Hayley's after school?"

"I'll think about it, but I'm not making any promises." She said as the teens nodded and left the house. Melissa waved goodbye to Tommy, but he didn't say or do anything to acknowledge that he saw her. She just nodded and closed the door.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

_They were all sitting in their usual seats in the __Youth__Center__. All except for Mel. She hadn't been hanging out with them, lately, which made them slightly worried about her. Of course, her not talking to any of them lately made them worry more._

_Tommy stared at the same page he'd been staring at for at least thirty minutes. He let out an exasperated sigh as he closed the book with a loud thud and dropped it onto the table. He just couldn't study when he knew that something wasn't right._

_"Tommy? You okay?" Aisha asked._

_"No… Is it just me or has Mel been acting very strange for the past couple of days?" He asked._

_"It's not just you." Rocky answered._

_"Yeah, I mean, I don't think she's ever acted like this, before." Kimberly said. "It's weird. I wish I knew what was wrong."_

_"Yeah, I know. She was supposed to help me out the other day on a science project, but she never showed." Adam chimed in._

_"I was supposed to help her out with her Algebra homework a couple of days ago… She didn't even call to tell me that she wasn't going to show." Billy spoke up._

_Tommy let out another exasperated sigh as he gathered his books into his bag. "I'll catch up with you guys later."_

_"Where are you going?" Rocky asked. "We really need to study for this English test."_

_"I know… I'm just going to go to see if I can talk to Mel… See if there's anything I can do to help."_

_"Good luck." Kimberly said, blowing a kiss at her boyfriend as he retreated from the table. She smiled widely as she and Aisha giggled at the expression of disappointment on Rocky__'s face. He was really going to need help with studying. _

* * *

_He saw her walk past him as he approached the end of the block that connected to her street. He smiled and waved as he called to her. "Mel! Hey, Mel!" _

_Her head had been lowered until she heard her name being called. She looked at Tommy, then looked back down at the ground and started to walk faster._

_"Wait!" He started to run after her. She wasn't moving fast enough, so he quickly caught up with her. He grabbed her arm, expecting her to stop walking, but she just grabbed his arm and flipped him over her small frame. She looked at him with an angry gaze as she stood in a fighting stance._

_He gave her a confused look as he looked at her. He couldn't beleive that she had just done that. He stammered slightly as he began to speak. "H-How did you do that? Since _when_ can you do that?" He asked._

_She didn't answer as she continued walking. He quickly got up from the ground and went after her. "Are you okay? You're acting kind of weird."_

_"Look, Tommy, I don't really have time to talk. I'm really busy. So, say what you want to and get it over with." She said, stopping and looking at him._

_"The others and I are worried about you… We just want to know what's wrong."_

_"There's nothing wrong." She continued walking until she reached her house. She didn't want to tell him. He had no reason to know what was bothering her._

_"Okay, so, are you going to hang out with us tomorrow?"_

_"I don't know. I have to see how my day goes… I'll see you in school, tomorrow, though. Bye." She then hurried to her front door. Tommy just about gave up and let her go inside, but he called to her again._

_"Mel, you _do_ know that you can talk to any of us if something's wrong, right?" He smiled when he saw her turn to him. "I just want you to know that."_

_She gave him a small smile. "I know, Tommy… Thanks." She said as she opened her door and hurried inside._

_Tommy let out a long sigh as he watched the door close. There was definitely something going on with her and he was willing to find out what._

* * *

Mesogog sat and watched Tommy and Melissa while sitting in his lair. He found the girl intriguing. She was different than any other human, he could sense it. He could feel as though she had some great power about her and he had to have it. He had to have her… by his side.

"Hm, there's something about that human… Elsa, bring her to me."

"And how am I going to do that, Master?" She asked, not excited about one little human that Lord Mesogog had a feeling about. He just gave her a knowing look. She knew what she had to do, no matter how much she despised it. "Yes, my lord."

* * *

Melissa pulled into the school's parking lot in her rental. She had decided to go and visit Tommy, so he would actually speak to her. He hadn't been doing that a lot since he found that she was the newest member of the team. But, she had to talk to him. She couldn't stand not talking to him. It was as if there was a large hole where their friendship had been… she needed to patch it up. She couldn't put something like this off.

She entered the school and walked up to the first person she saw. "Um, excuse me? Can you help me?"

The woman turned to look at her. Her eyes were dark and looked as though she didn't smile much. It was Principal Randall. "I'll try my best. How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Dr. Oliver's classroom. Can you tell me where it is? I really need to talk to him… It's urgent."

"Well, of course. Go straight down this hall, here and go up those stairs. His classroom is the fourth door on your left."

Melissa nodded in thanks. "Thank you." She then began to walk down the hallway.

"Of course, I don't know if he's as eager to see you as Lord Mesogog is."

"Excuse me?" Melissa turned to look at the woman to see what she had muttered, but when she turned, it was no longer Principal Randall.

"My master wishes to speak with you…" This wasn't going to be fun.

"What makes you think I'll come willingly?" Melissa asked, getting into her fighting stance.

"Mel?" They heard a familiar voice ask.

Melissa turned her head to see Tommy standing just a few feet from her, his glasses in one hand and a book in the other. He though he had heard her voice and was startled to find her and Elsa facing off in the hallway of the school.

"Aw, what a pity you two have to part so quickly."

"Don't you touch her, Elsa." Tommy said.

"Who said anything about touching her?" Elsa threw an electrified net over Melissa who was knocked to the ground by the volts it emitted. Elsa pushed a button on a remote that was attached to the net, making it retract.

Tommy tried to take a step forward, but Elsa made sure that he wouldn't move anymore. She pushed another button which made the net emit even more volts. Tommy didn't even try to move as he saw Mel writhing in pain. "Ta, for now!" She said as she and Melissa disappeared.

Tommy swore to himself as the two women vanished. He couldn't believe he let Elsa just take her like that. He pulled his bracelet to his mouth. "We've got a problem." Was all he said before he ran off.

* * *

**Yes, again I have updated two chapters in one day. It's a miracle, I know.**

**I didn't get to update on Monday, since I was passed out the entire day, since I was so exhausted from work and the fact that I had spent all day at the Rennaisance Fesitval. So, I'm making it up to you with two chapters. Yay, me!**

**So, please, read and review and please suggest some things that I can add to this one or the sequel. Remember, you will be credited for your suggestion.**

**Thanks again!**


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

"What's going on?" Conner asked as he, Ethan and Kira quickly entered the lair.

"What's wrong?" Kira asked as she saw the distraught look on her teacher's face.

"Mel's gone… Elsa took her." Tommy said as he looked over Hayley's shoulder as she scanned for an invisiportal. "This is all my fault."

"Don't blame yourself, Tommy. You didn't know this was going to happen." Hayley said.

"I told her this would happen. She knew this was dangerous and she still got involved again."

"Dr. O., what happened to her the last time that makes you worry about her so much?" Ethan asked.

Tommy let out an exasperated sigh. Now was as good a time as any to tell this story. "It was a long time ago… When I was still the White Ranger…" He said.

* * *

**_(A.N.: I had originally written this as though Tommy was telling the story, but I changed the tense, so if I mess up a little, that's why and I'm sorry about that.)_**

_They were getting slammed by another monster._

_They couldn't keep up the fight, so they retreated back to the __Command __Center__, so they could recover. They were in terrible shape. The monster could have killed them if they were there one more minute._

_They would've been able to stop it if they had gotten help from the Green Ranger, but she was nowhere to be found. Not even Zordon and Alpha could trace her. It was as if she wasn't on Earth anymore, but they still had to try. They needed the extra help or Angel Grove would be doomed._

_Then, the alarm sounded._

_"Oh, Ai-yi-yi-yi! Zordon, I found her!" The robot cheered._

_"Where is she?" Kimberly asked._

_"Lord Zedd has captured her… He is draining the gem's powers." Zordon said as an image appeared on the viewing globe._

_What they saw surprised them. They hadn't really expected that Melissa _was_ the Green Ranger and Zordon never told them, nor had Alpha. The teens just figured that something was wrong at home. But, there she was… and she needed their help._

_"Zordon, we have to do something." Rocky said._

_"I know, Rangers. But, you know that there is not enough power to send you all to Zedd's palace… I'm afraid only two of you can go." Their leader said._

_"Then, how would those who go get back if they're isn't enough power?" Adam asked._

_"The Green Ranger has powers that rival even those that power this __Command __Center__… She will be able to bring you home."_

_"But, which of us are going to go?" Aisha asked._

_Kimberly quickly stepped forward. "I'll go." She said. "She's one of my greatest friends… I can't let Zedd get her powers."_

_"Very well." Zordon said._

_Tommy gulped loudly, which he was thankful no one heard as he stepped forward. "You can count me in… At least now it makes sense why she's been acting weird lately."_

_"What do you mean?" Adam asked._

_"She wanted to hide the fact that she was the new Green Ranger, but if she knew who we were, why didn't she just come out and tell us?" Billy asked._

_"She wanted to protect you." Zordon spoke up. "Her powers are much different than yours. That is why Zedd is after her. He wants to use it to take over Earth. You must make sure that Zedd is unable to use the power emitted from the gem."_

_"And how do we do that?" Tommy asked. _

_"Only when the shift of power is complete, can Zedd access the power. You must not let him transfer all of the power from the gem." Alpha chimed in._

_"Right." Kimberly said. "You ready?" She turned to Tommy and asked._

_He nodded. "Let's take care of business."_

_"I'm entering the coordinates, now." Alpha said._

_The Pink and White Rangers nodded as they got ready to re-morph._

_"Bring her home, guys." Adam said._

_"Be safe." Aisha said._

_"Don't let Zedd overpower you. Remember to use the power of the mind over the body." Rocky said._

_Tommy and Kimberly were nodding at what they said. It gave them even more confidence as they looked at Alpha. _

_"Coordinates are entered." Alpha said._

_"Right… Ready?" Tommy asked. Kimberly nodded. "It's Morphin' Time! Tigerzord!"_

_"Pterodactyl!" _

_With that, they were teleported out of the __Command__Center__, en route to the Moon. _

_"Good luck." Zordon said._

* * *

_When they arrived on the Moon, they were on their toes. Seeing as though there were only two rangers in Rita and Zedd's lair, who knows what would happen to them without ever saving Melissa? It was a very difficult operation and they had to be careful._

_"So, what do you think?" Kimberly asked._

_"I'm thinking we should split up... but there's no telling what we'll run into, so, let's stick together and be careful." He said._

_"Right."_

_They slowly crept around the palace only to hear loud screaming coming from not too far away. It was Melissa and she was in great pain._

_They peered into the chamber that the screaming was coming from. They saw Melissa tied down on a flat metal table, Zedd standing over her, his staff sucking out the power from her gem._

_"Oh, God." Kimberly muttered as she tried to look away, but she couldn't help but stare._

_"Mmm, yes! Your powers are incredible! I think you'll come in handy." Zedd cackled as he kept collecting the power._

_"You won't win… The others will… be here to… help." Melissa said, through the pain._

_"Oh, I'm expecting them to come… and when they do, I'll destroy them!"_

_"You'd better come up with a better plan, Zedd!" Tommy yelled as he and Kimberly entered the chamber._

_"Only two? Couldn't Zordon afford to send all of you?" Zedd asked, a loud chuckle following._

_"He couldn't send all of them, so he sent the best!" Melissa said, relieved that Zedd had taken his attention off of her. With the staff unable to collect any more power from the gem, she was regaining her own strength._

_"I'll deal with him, you get Mel loose." Tommy said to the Pink Ranger._

_She nodded. "Right." He started to run after Zedd, but Kimberly grabbed his arm. "Be careful."_

_"Don't worry." He said. The White Ranger charged at Zedd with a two-footed kick to the chest. He fell to the ground, his staff falling just short of his reach._

_"You'll pay for that, White Ranger!" He said._

_"I'd like to see you try." Tommy retaliated._

_But, before he knew it, Zedd had used his powers to summon his staff. He quickly stood back up, energy flowing out of the tip of it. "I've waited a long time for this. The unbeatable ranger, taken down in his prime." He struck Tommy with the staff. He fell hard to the floor. The White Ranger tried to stand back up, but Zedd stood over him, ready to strike again._

_"No! Tommy!" He heard Melissa call out as Kimberly had undone the rest of her binding._

_"First him, then the two of you!" Zedd said to the two girls._

_"Not if we can help it!" Melissa said, anger in her voice and looking as though she was ready to attack._

_"We?" Kimberly asked, not really sure what to expect from her friend. She had seen the Green Ranger fight, but now that Melissa was angry, there was no telling what she would do._

_It happened in slow motion, it seemed. Melissa pulled a green morpher from behind her back. "It's Morphin' Time!" Tommy lay there in shock as he saw her transformation. "Green Serpent Power!" She cried out._

_Zedd even stood there in shock as she stood there in her ranger uniform, but he soon snapped out of it. "One more makes no difference."_

_"Wanna bet?" Melissa asked. "Green Ranger Power Strike!" She cried out as her chest plate sent a shot of energy at Zedd. He flew across the room and landed very hard, but he was still able to fight back._

_Tommy scrambled to his feet and over to the two girls. They needed to get out of there. "Can we go home, yet?" He asked._

_"Home would be good." Kimberly said, making sure Zedd wasn't going to fire anything at them._

_"Right." Melissa touched the gem in her chest plate and closed her eyes. She was about to take them home, but Tommy stopped her. _

_"Wait. I almost forgot something." He ran over to Zedd and grabbed the silver staff. He swung it hard and slammed it against one of the stone columns. The staff combusted as it hit the column, sending Tommy back over toward the girls._

_"Are you all right?" Kimberly asked._

_"Yeah." Tommy said as he stared at the sight before them. Little sparkling lights were flying out of the broken tip of the staff and flying throughout the palace. "Whoa! What is it?"_

_"It's all the power that Zedd has taken from others…" Melissa began. "It looks like they're returning to were they belong." As soon as she finished speaking, a small green orb began to dance in front of her before it flew into her chest plate. She stumbled back slightly and looked at herself. She felt very different. "Wow!" Was all she said._

_"What?" The Pink Ranger asked._

_"I feel… different… stronger… better."_

_"Well, let's go home, then, Oh Strong One." Tommy joked as they helped him back to his feet._

_"I'd love to." She put her hands on Tommy and Kimberly's shoulders and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath as she began to feel as though she was breaking up into little tiny pieces. They floated into the air and through space, only to return to the __Command __Center._

* * *

"So, what happened after that?" Conner asked.

Tommy heaved a heavy sigh. It had taken a lot out of him to remember that whole story. He was going to answer, but he was interrupted by Hayley finding something useful.

"Hey, look at this." She said.

"Did you find the invisiportal?" Kira asked.

"Not yet… It's something on the green Dino Gem…" She trailed off. "It tells about the abilities the bearer will possess." She gave the screen a confused look. She'd never seen anything like it before.

"What's wrong? You seem confused." Tommy said.

"Did you know that it gives control over the weather?"

"Control over the weather? Man, that would be _so_ cool!" Ethan said.

Meanwhile, it made Tommy think about his fight with Melissa. He couldn't believe he hadn't realized it when it happened. "I did, but I didn't connect it at the time." Hayley gave him a puzzled look. "You know how we had that really nice weather and then it suddenly turned very dark and stormy?"

"Yeah. I was washing my car when it started to rain… why?"

"Mel and I were fighting when it happened… She was extremely angry when it started to storm… It makes sense, now."

"What else does it say?" Conner asked.

"Her abilities can wait, for now. I found an invisiportal."

* * *

**Yeah, I know, it's been a while since I updated. School started up for me, again and so that's taking up more time. Not to mention working on the weekends. But, I'll try to update as often as I can.**

**Please, read and review.**


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Melissa struggled to free herself from her bindings as she lay under the life-force extractor. It was slowly extracting her powers from the Dino Gem, which was making her weaker and less able to struggle to get free.

"I don't see what the point of this is." Elsa said. "She's just _one_ human, what can she do?"

"You're a fool! Can't you see that she's wearing the green Dino Gem?" Zeltrax asked. "She can be a great use to us."

"But, this is boring! Can't we at least have some fun with her?"

"What did you have in mind?"

Elsa gave an evil smile as she walked over to the life-force extractor. "If we can't have the White Ranger on our side, who says we can't still have a ranger?"

"What is your plan, Elsa?" A menacing voice asked from behind them. Lord Mesogog had moved silently into the room and walked up to his lackeys. Elsa stammered when she saw her master standing there. "Well?" He asked, waiting for her to answer.

"I-I was thinking, my Lord, that if we reconfigure the life-force extractor, we could make our own evil ranger. All we need is your approval, sir."

Mesogog stared at the two of them for only a second, before he turned his attention to Melissa. He approached her with what only could be considered a grin and ran a clawed hand through her hair. "I suppose it has its promises… The Green Ranger, my one and only queen…" He trailed off as he considered it. He cackled in approval.

"I'd rather die than join you, Mesogog!" Melissa said as the extractor was turned off.

"That can be arranged, but, for now… Elsa, continue with your idea. I cannot wait to meet my own evil Power Ranger."

* * *

Tommy entered Melissa's room and turned on the light. He wasn't looking for anything in particular. He just felt so terrible about how he'd acted when he'd found out that the gem chose her. He couldn't believe how angry he was at her. But, he knew it wasn't her fault. The gem chose _her_. There was nothing that he could do about that. Thinking back to it, he wished that he could take it all back. She was a great ranger; one of the best. She could handle this responsibility. The question was, though, whether or not it could handle her.

He and the others were delayed from rescuing Melissa because Hayley was cooking something up to help. This only made Tommy more on edge and made him hope that they weren't already too late.

He scanned her room, from the way she made the bed to the way she lined all of her small belongings on the dresser. His eyes rested on a framed photo she had set on the bedside table, next to her laptop.

He smiled as he picked up the photo and looked at it. It was a picture that was taken of him, Melissa, and the others at Ernie's. It was taken just before she had become the Green Ranger.

He set the photo down and carefully studied her other belongings. He was so intent on memorizing everything that he didn't even notice Kira, Ethan, and Conner enter the room.

"Dr. O.?" Ethan asked. Tommy turned his attention to his students, trying to show a brave face for them. "We were wondering what happened to Mel after your fight with Zedd."

"Yeah, it still doesn't make sense why you were mad at her…" Conner said.

"Can you tell us?" Kira asked as she and the other two took seats on her bed.

Tommy nodded as he took a seat next to the bed. "Okay."

* * *

**_(A.N.: Again, this was originally as if Tommy was telling the story, but I changed it again.)_**__

_When they arrived back at the __Command __Center__, the others were still there. They let out a loud cheer and hugged the three who had returned._

_Kimberly and Tommy took off their helmets, but Melissa still stood there with hers on. She didn't know how the others would react to seeing her face behind the helmet. But, she figured that they would have to find out sooner or later._

_When she took off her helmet, the others were still smiling and each gave her a hug. They were happy that it was her and not someone they didn't know. It was better to have friends on the team, than a complete stranger. Team work just seemed easier when friends were nearby._

_"Welcome to the team." Aisha said._

_"I'm glad it's you." Rocky said._

_"I guess, now you have no excuse for missing out on studying." Billy pointed out._

_"It's good to have the old you back." Adam said._

_"I'm glad to be back." She said, trying to take a step toward him to hug him, but her legs collapsed from underneath her. Adam and Rocky quickly caught her and tried to help her back up._

_"Mel, are you okay?" Kimberly asked._

_Melissa shook her head to clear it. "Yeah… I just feel… weird." It was strange. Just a few seconds ago, she elt as though she was the strongest woman in the world. Now, it felt as if she was copletely drained._

_"Alpha…" Zordon spoke up._

_"Already on it, Zordon." The robot spoke up, pulling out a small energy scanner. He slowly ran it over her. The outcome wasn't what they expected. "Hm…"_

_"What is it Alpha?" Tommy asked._

_"Her body is very weak… but why, I don't know."_

_"We destroyed the staff that Zedd used, Zordon, how can she be weak?" Kimberly asked. "I mean, her powers returned to her and everything."_

_Zordon paused before answering. He had to think of a way to say this. "Zedd had been extracting Melissa's powers very slowly from the gem, because he knew that if he did it too quickly that his body wouldn't be able to handle it. That is what has happened to Melissa. Her body wants to accept the power, yet it is still too weak from it being taken away from her, that it can't do it as quickly as it had before."_

_"Is there anything that we can do?" Aisha asked._

_"Well, there is one thing." Billy said as he thought quietly to himself. He was the brains of this outfit and he knew just about as much as Alpha and Zordon, so his idea would most likely work. "But, I'm not sure of what the outcome would be."_

_"What is your idea?" Melissa asked as she rested on the floor after she had told Adam and Rocky to just leave her there._

_"We can reincorporate your powers back to you, just like the way that Zordon had given them to you the first time." The Blue Ranger said._

_"How?" Tommy asked._

_"To do what Billy is speaking of is very dangerous. There is no telling whether or not Melissa's body will accept the powers again." Alpha said._

_"But how?" Tommy asked again._

_"He means that they'll have to extract the rest of my powers to let my body rest. Then, when it is ready again, they'll return to me." Melissa spoke up._

_"Well, why don't we do that?" Rocky asked._

_"Alpha's right. It's very dangerous." She said again._

_"How dangerous?" Adam asked as he knelt down next to her._

_"It could kill me."_

_The Ranger's eyes went wide as they heard her say that. They couldn't believe that Billy or Alpha would even consider doing something like that._

_"We can't let you do that." Tommy said._

_"It's not up to you to decide, Tommy. I have to make this decision on my own." Melissa said._

_"But, Mel, if it'll kill you, then you can't do it." Kimberly said._

_"It's not for sure whether or not it _will_ kill me… it's only a chance… a chance that I'm going to have to make."_

* * *

Tommy snapped back into reality as he looked at his students. He felt as though he could begin to cry, but he didn't.

"So, she went through with it?" Conner asked.

"Yeah."

"What happened?" Ethan asked.

"It didn't work… Her body wouldn't accept the powers again. But, it wasn't because it couldn't. It was willing to accept them again, but it was as if something was telling it that it shouldn't. Like she was meant for something greater to come along."

"She was, though, wasn't she? I mean, she became the Green Dino Thunder Ranger." Kira point out.

"That's not it… I can't explain it though."

"So, what happened to the gem's powers?" Ethan asked.

"She gave them to Zordon and Alpha."

"But, I thought they would only work for her." Conner said.

"Only she could activate the powers, but after that, they could be used for anything… But, she did have to help. With Alpha's help, she was able to incorporate them into the Morphin' Grid. That way, her powers were dispersed between all of us and the Command Center."

"So, what happened to her, after that?" Kira asked.

Tommy was going to answer, but Hayley's voice made him think otherwise.

"I think that's going to have to wait." She said, from the doorway. "Come on, there's something I have to show you."

Tommy nodded and let the other out of the room and back down to the lab. His eyes set on five very small, gold beads that were sitting on one of the roll-away tables he had stocked to help him with his research. He gave them, then Hayley, a puzzled look. "What are they?"

"They are small upgrades to the Dino Morphers… I got the idea for them when I watched your video diary."

"So, what are they?" Conner asked as he saw Tommy smile widely.

"They're teleporting chips." The Black Ranger said.

"Precisely." Hayley said, for a moment sound like Billy.

* * *

**And so the story continues. Please read and review. I'm still going to try to update once or twice a week, but there's no telling with my schedule. But, I promise that I'll try.**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Don't hesitate!**


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

She was lying on the life-force extractor, motionless. Her eyes were closed and she looked almost peaceful. Melissa was unconscious in an empty room in Mesogog's lair; it had to be a trap. You would have expected a guard to be standing at the entrances to the lab or at least inside the lab, but there were none in neither place... or any other place that the rangers had wandered through. It had to be a trap.

The Black Ranger walked up to her and gently touched her face with a gloved hand. "She's still alive… but something's not right. Why would Mesogog just leave her alone in an unguarded room?"

"Are you sure it's really her?" Conner asked, receiving a slap on the arm from Kira and Ethan. "I was just asking."

"No. It's her, but something still isn't right. Keep watch while I try to wake her."

"Right." Ethan said.

"Please hurry." Kira added, still not liking this place after being trapped there once before.

Tommy powered down and gently shook his old friend. He didn't know how she would react to seeing him in his ranger outfit after being unconscious. "Mel? Mel, can you hear me?" He asked.

Melissa stirred slightly and opened her eyes. "Tommy?" She asked. He didn't say anything as he saw her eyes light up as she sat up and hugged him. "Oh, thank God! I knew you would come."

"Where's Mesogog?"

"I-I don't know. The last thing I remember, Elsa wanted to reconfigure the life-force extractor… but I can't remember why."

"It's okay. Let's get you out of here."

She quickly nodded. "The sooner, the better." She said as he helped her climb off of the machine. She stumbled slightly as she got her balance back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, guys, let's get going." He said to the morphed teens.

"Not so fast, Dr. Oliver." They heard a menacing voice say from behind them.

"Mesogog!" Conner cried out.

Melissa grabbed Tommy's arm from fright. It was almost as if she was seeing him for the first time. Tommy didn't think anything of it as he stared into the eyes of the monster before him.

"The girl is mine… Leave now or be destroyed."

"She's not yours, Mesogog! She's a Power Ranger!" Ethan said.

"Mel, run for cover. You shouldn't morph after what you've been through."

She nodded. "Okay. Be careful." She said as she let go of his arm and ran into a dark corner to hide.

Tommy looked at his foe with an angry gaze. "No one messes with my friends… Dino Thunder, Power Up!" He said, reaching for his key to put it in his morpher, but both were gone. "Huh?" He asked.

"What's wrong?" Kira asked.

"My Dino Morpher's gone!" He said.

Mesogog did nothing but laugh evilly at the rangers. But, he wasn't the only one. There was another laugh coming form behind Tommy. This one, female.

The rangers thought it to be Elsa, but they were wrong. Out from the shadows, stepped a black, leather, high-heeled boot, which coordinated very nicely with the black, low-riding leather pants and the leather top that showed the woman's entire stomach, including a very tasteful green star-shaped belly button ring. As she walked from the shadows more, they could see that her blond hair was streaked with black and green. It could only be one person.

"Mel?" Tommy asked.

She laughed even more as she help up his Dino Morpher. Her laughter made her seem as though she wasn't her normal, happy self. She seemed, now, more dark and sinister than Tommy had ever seen any of his friends. "Poor Tommy; always so trusting, aren't you?" She asked, grinning evilly.

"Whoa! What happened?" Conner asked.

"I've been completely reinvented, I guess you could say… thanks to Lord Mesogog."

"No!" Kira said.

"This _can't_ be happening." Ethan said as he watched Melissa slink over to the half-human, half-dinosaur.

"I'd like to introduce my new queen." He said to the rangers, then turning to Melissa. "You know what to do."

She nodded as she placed Tommy's morpher into a pouch that hung from her belt. "Green Dino Raptor, Power Up!" She cried out as she morphed.

Tommy stood there in awe at the sight of her. This wasn't the same girl he had once known. "I can't believe this."

"Believe it, Black Ranger. For your end has come." She said, a bitter tone to her voice.

"Not if we can help it!" Conner said. "Ready guys?" He asked as the three of them looked toward their mentor and saw the look of horror on his face. They had to do something.

"Right!" Ethan said.

"Let's do it!" Kira chimed in.

They charged at the Green Rangers, but didn't even get the chance to touch her as she waved her hand and they went flying. "Pitiful." She said as he turned to Tommy, who's eyes were wide with surprise. She'd never been able to do that before.

"Mel, I know you're in there. Don't do this." He tried to persuade her.

"You can't lay a guilt trip on me. I am only pure evil, now."

"That's not true and you know it!"

With another wave of her hand, he was sent flying across the room. "You tire me with conversation."

"Then, how about this?" Ethan asked as he attacked her with his shield. He was quickly sent flying, his powers failing him as he was powered down. "Whoa! She's too strong!"

"Let me try!" Kira said, charging at her with her Ptera Grips. Melissa was able to block every move and send the yellow ranger flying with an energy blast that came from a gem that was set in her helmet. Kira's powers soon failed her as she was powered down. "I don't believe this! Where'd that energy blast come from?"

"My turn!" Conner said, pulling out the Tyrranostaff. Melissa had to admit that he was very good with it, but soon he too ended up like the others.

"Guys, get out of here! I can handle this!" Tommy said. He knew that they didn't want to fight Melissa. He didn't either, but at least, if they were to escape, they, along with Hayley, would be able to find a way to free Melissa from this curse.

"Are you sure?" Kira asked.

Tommy only nodded before the three teleported out of there.

"You didn't tell me they could do that." Mesogog said to Melissa.

"I didn't know, my Lord." She said as she powered down. She walked over to Tommy and picked him up by his shirt, her eyes narrowed into evil slits. "You made a bad choice by staying here, Black Ranger."

"I'll make that decision, myself." He said, kicking her in the gut.

She stumbled back with an "Oof!", but she soon steadied herself so she would be able to attack him again. She was deterred from doing so, by Mesogog grabbing her arm.

"Leave him. I have other plans for him… I want him taken to my dungeon, for now."

She didn't want to oblige. She wanted nothing more than to destroy the pathetic human in front of her, yet she nodded in compliance. "Yes, master."

* * *

**Okay, it just wouldn't be a ranger fic without a ranger turning evil. Even if the ranger is my own creation.**

**Please, tell me what you think. I can use some critique on this chapter, because it'll help me to develope the next few chapters. So, please, give me your comments. Even if you don't like it, tell me why. It'll all help me out in the end!**

**Thanks!**


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Thanks to those who reviewed. I had someone ask me a really good question, which I am going to answer. The question was whether or not I was planning on hooking up Mel and Tommy and the answer is no. I am planning on hooking Mel up with someone, though.**

**Thanks for the question,**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

He sat in the dungeon, trying to find a way out. He needed to escape so that he could get to Melissa. He had to do something to get the old her back. But, what could he do?

He thought of nothing as he tried to kick the cell's barred door down. She was turned evil and it was all his fault. But, he knew that she was strong and she would be able to fight this. He just hoped that it wouldn't destroy her in the process.

He let out a low growl as he gave up and leaned against the wall of his cell. There was no way of getting out. The bars were solid. They weren't going to budge, now that he was in his human form.

"I can't believe this." He muttered.

"You keep saying that, yet nothing is gong to change what happened, Black Ranger."

He recognized that voice. "Mel!" He got to his feet and rushed to the bars of his cell. "Mel, come on, you know me. You have to snap out of it!"

"There is nothing to snap out of. I feel better than ever before… You certainly gave up a good thing when you were turned."

"When I-... You _do_ know me then!" He said with a surprised expression.

"Of course." She snapped as if he was completely stupid.

"Then, you've come to let me out?" It wasa stupid question, he knew, but it was worth a shot.

"Nice try. I'm evil; not stupid." She swished her hip to the right and rested her hand on it.

"Then, why did you come down here?"

"I need to know how your students were able to teleport out of here. That must have been a new feature that _Hayley_ must've just added." She cocked an eyebrow as she stared him down.

He didn't even notice the way she had spat out Hayley's name. He just lowered his gaze from hers. "I can't tell you."

"Then, you shall rot." She said as she turned to leave.

"Wait!" He called for her. She turned back around and looked at him with a bored expression. "Please … can we talk? I know the real you is in there… Let me help you find it… I don't want to lose what we've gained."

She walked slightly closer to him and pulled up a crate to sit on. This was going to be entertaining. "Speak, then, for my king waits."

"Mel, I know what you're going through. I've been there… and I know it's hard, but you have to find the real you inside of… well, you." He paused as she lightly scoffed at him and the fact that he was staring at the way she was dressed. He'd never seen her wear anything like that before. But, he was getting nowhere and fast. "When I became evil, the others were there for me. They helped me to break the spell. They bared themselves to me to show me that I had them to care for me… I'm here for you… I'm sorry for the way I acted, before. I know that you can handle this power. You were braver than I'd seen you when you gave up your powers. You were braver than any of us.

"You are my sister; there is no denying that that is the way I feel about you. I will always be there for you… just as you were always there for me… and how Zordon was always there for all of us. We've all had to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good of Angel Grove, Reefside, the world… But, don't sacrifice yourself for the good of Mesogog… Think of Zordon and all he'd done for us. If it wasn't for him, we probably wouldn't have become the great friends that we are." He paused as he saw the expressions on her face shift. It was beginning to work.

"Zordon." She said, softly as she remembered her former mentor. She missed him now that he was gone from existence.

"And even before you gave up your powers, think of what you did for your friend from New York when she came to visit. You saved her life because of your powers… I don't know why I didn't remember this before. But, you can handle the power of the Dino Gem. All you have to do is believe." He paused again. "Mel… please?"

She didn't say anything as thoughts began to race through her mind. She remembered when she paid her a visit over summer break. She was still a Power Ranger, though she hadn't given up her powers, yet. She still had enough power for one more battle.

* * *

_It was after the fight with Zedd and she'd still had her powers, or what was left of them, anyway. Zordon had had an idea for the powers to see if he could forge a new power coin from the gem… So far, he had no progress._

_So, Melissa was left to struggle with what power she still had. She did all right, just as long as she didn't overexert herself. That was the hard part, though. Being a Ranger, she would always overwork herself in a battle and would have to rest for three days at a time. That was why the others usually tried to do as much as they could._

_It was very hard at times for her to not jump into a fight when she was needed. She was just being stubborn, though._

_"I swear you guys needed me! Why wouldn't you let me help?" She asked as she and Tommy pulled up in front of her house in his truck._

_"Because, we didn't want you to get worn out. We don't always need your help, you know." He told her as he looked curiously at the strange car that was sitting in her driveway. It certainly didn't belong to her parents or a neighbor around the block. He shrugged it off as he continued arguing with Melissa._

_"You treat me like a baby." She said._

_"You act like one." He joked. She playfully slapped him on the arm as she too noticed the car. "Who's car?"_

_"I dunno and I'm going to tell your girlfriend on you for that remark, Bub." She said as she climbed out of the truck. "You wanna come in? You know how Mom loves having you over for dinner."_

_"No. It looks like you guys have company. I'll see you tomorrow, though." He said, not wanting to be rude._

_"Okay. Suit yourself… Tomorrow, your butt is going to get beat!" She called to him._

_"I'd like to see you try!" He called back as he backed the truck out of the driveway and drove off._

_Tomorrow, there was to be a karate tournament held at the __Youth __Center__. It was for charity, so each of the Rangers decided to enter, so they could help the community. Tommy and Melissa were to fight each other, which was going to make it very interesting, since she wasn't as skilled a fighter as he was. _

_They also hoped that they would draw a big crowd. The more people they had, the more money they'd be able to raise._

_Melissa smiled to herself as Tommy's taillights drove out of sight. She walked through the front door to see a familiar face sitting on her couch. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the girl in front of her._

_"Chloe?" She asked, surprised to see her best friend from __New York__ had flown all the way out there to see her._

_"Surprised?" The girl asked. Chloe was just as tall as Melissa. She was also a punk, but she had brown eyes and brown hair with red and purple streaks in it._

_"Very… What are you doing here?"_

_"My parents decided that they would give me a real vacation. They went to __L.A.__ and let me come here to see you and stay for a week."_

_"Really?" Melissa asked, looked at her Mom and Dad._

_"Really. She's going to stay here for as long as her parents allow her, while they're in __California__. Isn't that great?" Her mother asked._

_Melissa smiled. "Yeah, great." But, it didn't seem very good to her. Sure she was happy to see Chloe; there was no doubt about that. It was just the fact of the secret she was sitting on. Usually, when she was around Chloe, she couldn't keep secrets. This wasn't going to be fun._

* * *

**Please read and review!!!**


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

_The next morning, Melissa and Chloe entered the kitchen and sat next to each other at the table. They couldn't help but smile at one another. It was just so unbelievable that they were in the same room again. It felt as though it had been ages since they last saw each other. It made Melissa feel like she was back home in New York. She liked that feeling._

_"Breakfast?" Mrs. Baker asked._

_"Sure." Chloe said._

_"None for me." Melissa answered._

_"Honey, you _should_ eat something."_

_"I know… Maybe later, though. I'm still a little nervous about today."_

_"What's today?" Chloe asked._

_"Oh, that's right. I almost forgot that the tournament was today." Mrs. Baker said._

_"What tournament?" Chloe asked, feeling as though she was being ignored._

_"Yeah, it's going to be great. We're sure to make a lot of money with Tommy and Rocky competing. Not to mention Adam… You and daddy are coming, right?"_

_"Of course. You know we wouldn't miss this for the world. You're making us so proud by doing this."_

_"I know." Melissa blushed._

_"Hello?" Chloe asked. "Would someone please inform me of what is going on?"_

_"Sorry, Chloe. There's a karate tournament at the local hangout. It's for charity and the guys and I entered." Mel said._

_"The guys?" Chloe asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. Meanwhile, she really wanted to say: "Charity?", because for as long as she knew Melissa, she would never do anything for charity. It just wasn't in her nature._

_"Yeah, wait until you meet them… they're great."_

_Chloe gave her friend a nod as an answer. She wasn't sure what was going on with her friend. She didn't seem as though she was the same person as she was when she left. She was different... and it wasn't a good kind of different._

* * *

_The two girls entered the __Youth __Center__ early, so Melissa could stretch and get ready to fight. Chloe looked around the room, skeptically. This place was cheery and bright; it wasn't her kind of place to hangout._

_"So, when did you get into karate and all that?"_

_"You can say that I just picked it up. Plus, Tommy's been teaching me a bit… I'm getting really good. I'm only a green belt, right now." _

_That was the second time she had mentioned Tommy's name. "So, who is this guy Tommy?"_

_"He's a friend…" Melissa trailed off as her eyes set on her friend who was stretching on the mats. "In fact, there he is… Hey, Tommy!" She called to him._

_Chloe saw a teen dressed in a white gi with long brown hair look up at Melissa and smile. "Cute." She muttered, not expecting her friend to hear._

_"That's what I said, but close your mouth. He's taken." She said, waving him over to them._

_"What are you doing?" Chloe asked, slightly embarrassed._

_Melissa laughed slightly. "I want him to meet you… are you nervous?"_

_"No! No, I'm fine… Why'd he have to be so cute?"_

_"I dunno. Why don't you ask him, yourself?" The Green Ranger joked as her friend slapped her on the arm as Tommy walked up to Melissa._

_"You ready for today?" He asked._

_"I'm ready. The question is, are you ready?" The blond girl asked._

_"What are you implying?" He smiled as he realized what she was getting at._

_"The teacher is about to learn from the student… and don't go easy on me, either. I wanna see what I got."_

_"I never do."_

_"Yeah, sure." She said rolling her eyes as Chloe cleared her throat more loudly than necessary._

_"Hi. I'm Tommy." He held out his hand for her to take. _

_She took it and smiled. "Chloe."_

_"She's my best friend from __New York__. She came all this way to visit me. Cool, right?" Melissa asked._

_"Yeah." Tommy said, unenthusiastically._

_"You okay?" The blond girl asked._

_"Mel, can we talk for a second?" Melissa nodded as Tommy pulled her off to the side. "Listen, I know that you haven't seen her in a while, but I just want you to be careful. There's no telling whether or not Zedd would go after her."_

_"Why would he do that? She's of no importance to him."_

_"To make you give up your powers to him. I just want you to be careful around her."_

_"Well, I guess telling her my secret is out of the question." He gave her a serious, stern stare. "I was just kidding. Don't worry, Tommy. I won't tell her anything... This is something that she wouldn't understand, anyway."_

_

* * *

_

_Chloe sat to the side of the mats near Melissa's other friends: Kim, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Billy. She had been introduced to all of them, but they just weren't her kind of people. She could hardly believe that they were Melissa's kind of people. _

_Rocky was a jock; not really the kind of person she would hand out with. Adam seemed as though he was a dork; that was the last kind of person she wanted to talk to. Aisha wasn't that bad. She was chipper, but Chloe could at least stand her. Billy was smart... too smart. She didn't think that Melissa would want anything to do with him; she knew that she wouldn't. And lastly, there was Kimberly. Well, Kimberly was just one of those people that Chloe couldn't stand. She was the cheerleader type; the kind of girl who could make you feel stupider when she entered the room. Why Melissa was hanging out with her, she didn't want to know._

_"Next up: Tommy Oliver and Melissa Baker!" Ernie said, into a microphone, being the announcer for the day. "Melissa has been Tommy's student for almost a year, now and has already earned her green belt… Let's see if Tommy's teaching has paid off!" _

_The crowd that had gathered cheered loudly for both sides. But, the really interesting thing was the way Kim, Billy, Adam, Aisha, and Rocky were cheering for their friends._

_"Go Tommy!" They would cheer. Then, "Go, Mel!" Would be heard from them._

_"God, who's side are you on?" Chloe muttered as she sat, uninterested with her arms and legs crossed. She wanted this to end quickly, so she wouldn't have to sit there any longer._

_She watched though, as Tommy and Mel bowed to each other and got into their fighting stances. She watched as they kicked and punched at each other. She saw Melissa being sent to the floor, only to jump up into a crouch and trip Tommy with a sweeping kick. Tommy fell flat on his back, but quickly rolled to his feet. Chloe had to admit that they were both really good. But, deep inside, she was really hoping that Melissa would win. She'd never seen her friend this interested in anything, besides music. It was strange to see her actually doing something this active… and for the good of others. It made her smile and also sick at the same time. Charity? Why charity?_

_Then, it happened. As she saw that Melissa had overtaken Tommy and proceeded to sit on him, the ground began to shake. People began screaming as they ran for a doorway._

_"Head for a doorway! Stay calm and head for a doorway!" Ernie said._

_Melissa let go of Tommy as she saw how terrified that Chloe was as she stood in a doorway. She quickly stood up, helping Tommy up in the process and heading over to her friend who was quickly heading for the front door._

_"Chloe, don't!" She called to her. But, Chloe didn't hear her. Melissa quickly ran after her, being closely followed by Tommy._

_As soon as Melissa stepped foot outside, the shaking had stopped. She let out a sigh of relief when she could walk without the threat of tumbling over. But, her relief soon disappeared when she heard a familiar laugh._

_She looked up to see Chloe being help captive by Goldar and a horde of putties. Her eyes narrowed into slits as anger overcame her. A few seconds later, Tommy had exited the building as he found Melissa, but quickly got into his fighting stance when he saw the gold-armored monster._

_"Let her go, Goldar!" He said._

_"I don't think so! Lord Zedd has plans for this one."_

_"What if we trade, Goldar?" Melissa asked._

_"What are you doing?" Tommy asked._

_"Trying to save my best friend."_

_"No trade! Putties, attack!" He ordered as he grabbed a hold of Chloe and teleported back to Zedd._

_Tommy and Melissa quickly fought off the putties, leaving Melissa to swear to herself. "I can't believe this."_

_"I warned you." Tommy said, but she gave him an evil look which made him shut his mouth._

_"Don't pin this on me! I didn't tell her anything! Zedd knew who she was. He knows that I'll do anything to save her."_

_"What are friends for, right?" He asked._

_

* * *

_

**Please read and review. Even if you don't like the way I portrayed Chloe. I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.**


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

_At the __Command __Center__, Melissa was extremely frustrated. She couldn't understand why Goldar wouldn't accept her offer to trade. It just didn't make any sense. "Zordon, I would have willingly traded myself for her and he wouldn't give in. I don't get it."_

_"Perhaps Zedd has other plans for her and doesn't need your powers." Zordon said, after pondering for a few seconds._

_"I don't see why. All he's been after are my powers. Why wouldn't he want them, now?"_

_"Maybe he does." Kim said. "But, he just wants to go about it a different way… Maybe he doesn't just want your powers. Maybe he wants you, too."_

_"Me? Why would he want me?" Melissa asked._

_"Kimberly may be right." Zordon said. But, before he could continue, the alarm sounded._

_"What is it, Alpha?" Rocky asked._

_"Goldar has returned with a monster. Chloe is with them." The robot said, panic in his voice._

_"Time to go kick some Goldar butt." Aisha said, smiling._

_"Right." Melissa said as the others nodded._

_"No, Melissa. If you morphed, you could weaken yourself too early. The others might need you at a later time. You must stay behind." Zordon ordered._

_Melissa didn't want to listen to him, but she knew he was right. She nodded. "Yes, Zordon… Kick him once for me?" She asked Tommy._

_"You got it. Ready guys?"_

_"Ready." The others replied._

_"It's Morphin' Time!"_

* * *

_The battle raged on in Angel Grove, while Melissa had to sit by and watch. Now she understood what Tommy had to go through when he told her about him losing _his_ Green Ranger powers. _

_She couldn't stand not being able to help her friends. She wanted to help. She needed to help._

_"I can't take this anymore! Zordon, I have to help them!" She said._

_"But, if you are weakened…"_

_"Then, I'll be weakened. I can't just sit by and watch them get pummeled by Goldar. I _have_ to help them." _

_Her expression was serious and determined. He knew that she needed to help. He let out a long sigh and nodded. "If that is what you wish."_

_She smiled. "Thank you… It's Morphin' Time! ... Serpentzord!"_

* * *

_Tommy was thrown into the others as the monster, a giant eyeball with arms and legs, kicked him out of the way. He struggled to get back up as he and the others stared at their foes. "Man, he's tough." He said._

_"Giving up so early, Power Pukes?" Goldar asked. "I thought you'd be more of a challenge… Oh, well, defeating you will be a pleasure."_

_"Don't think you've won just yet, Fur Ball!" A familiar voice said from behind the others._

_"Yes!" Rocky cheered._

_"I thought you were destroyed!" Goldar said._

_"Don't believe everything you hear." She said, getting into her fighting stance. "Those are my friends and I'll do whatever it takes to help them."_

_Chloe watched this confrontation from a distance. Whoever this girl was, she must have been powerful. She saw as the Green Ranger turned her head toward the others._

_"I'll deal with Goldie. You guys take the eyeball and get Chloe out of here." She ordered, sensing Tommy's smile on her. He didn't usually let others take charge of the team, but she was determined and he wouldn't get in her way. Besides, it was her friend's life that was in danger._

_"Right." She heard him say. Kimberly, Tommy, and Rocky took on the monster, while Aisha, Adam and Billy went after the putties that surrounded Chloe._

_Melissa stared directly into Goldar's beady eyes. She was going to definitely enjoy this. "Power Saber!" She quickly called as she extracted the sword out of, what seemed to be, nowhere._

_Goldar was just as ready as she was, his sword in his hands. "I'm going to enjoy this." He said._

_"So am I." She said as their swords clanged together. _

_Tommy, Kimberly and Rocky weren't having much luck with the monster. Though, it _was_ a giant eyeball and it was obvious what its weak spot would be, they couldn't get near it. Every time they would try to get it in the eye, it would fire its laser-like energy beam at them._

_"We have to try to distract it." Rocky said as he was thrown to the ground once again._

_"And how do you suppose we do that? He's a giant eyeball… it's not like he has a blind side." Kimberly pointed out._

_Tommy thought for a second as he managed to dodge an attack. "Kim, that's it!"_

_"What?"_

_"What you said… he may not have a blind side, but he may have a blind spot… You two distract him while I come up from behind."_

_"I hope you know what you're doing." Rocky said._

_"Yeah, me too." The White Ranger muttered as he waited for them to distract the monster._

_Aisha kicked a putty in its breastplate, only to have two more hit her square in the chest. "Ugh! Where are they all coming from?" She asked._

_"I dunno, but this is just too much." Adam said as he punched two putties in their chest plates._

_"It's as if they're multiplying! We have to get rid of them, fast!" Billy said._

_"Right!" Aisha said. "Power Daggers!"_

_"Power Lance!" Billy cried out._

_"Power Axe!" Adam summoned._

_The three of them fought off putty after putty, yet they still continued to come at them. This was getting tired and fast. _They_ were getting tired and fast._

_Goldar stumbled backward at the power from Melissa's saber. He was quickly losing the fight. _

_Melissa was happy that she was winning, but she wasn't sure how much longer her powers would last. She didn't show any sign of worry or weakness as she loomed over a tired Goldar. "Too much for ya?" She asked._

_"You've won this time, Green ranger, but next time, you won't be so lucky!" He said as he teleported away so he's be able to rest up for the next fight._

_She smiled to herself as she ran over to help Aisha, Billy, and Adam. She fought off putty after putty, slowly making her way to Chloe. When she finally reached her, she let out a sigh of relief._

_"Who are you guys?" Chloe asked._

_"We're the Power Rangers and we're going to get you out of here." Melissa said as she cut the girl loose and pulled her communicator to her lips. "Alpha, teleport her to a safe place."_

_"Right!" Alpha answered as Chloe began to dematerialize in front of Melissa's eyes._

_Now, everyone's focus was on the monster. Kimberly and Rocky still weren't having much luck when it came to distracting it._

_Tommy let out a loud groan as he stared at the monster. "There has to be something." He said as he pondered the situation._

_"Tommy?" Melissa asked. "What about me?"_

_He knew what she meant and he wasn't willing to risk her losing her powers. "No… There has to be something else."_

_She let out an exasperated sigh. "But, I have an idea… What's the worst thing that can happen to your eye?"_

_Adam smiled. "Throw dust in it."_

_"I don't think we could throw enough dust at this guy, though." Aisha said._

_"I can do it… at least, I think I can." Melissa said._

_"How? It'll drain your powers so much if you do it." Kimberly pointed out._

_"Not necessarily. I've been talking to Alpha and Zordon about the gem, lately. They told me that I can use the gem to my advantage, now that it carries more power than I do… I can draw enough power from the gem to destroy this thing… At least, I think I can. I've never done it before, though…" She trailed off as she felt the worried vibes she was getting from her teammates. "Don't worry. It won't drain any of _my_ power. It'll make it stronger… Tommy, you have to let me try."_

_He let out an exasperated sigh and nodded. "Okay. I hope you're right."_

_"Are you done with your little pow-wow? I'm getting antsy!" The monster claimed to them._

_"Sounds like a personal problem to me." Melissa said, getting down on one knee and putting her palms together. She knelt there in silence for a second, before quickly jumping to her feet and touching the gem in her chest plate. "Green Serpent Dust Storm!" She cried out._

_The wind began to pick up around her as her gem began to glow. The dust and dirt from the ground began to fly up at the monster, the wind blowing the trees and the other rangers violently around. The other rangers knelt down, for safety, behind a large rock where they wouldn't be effected by the wind. They watched as Melissa wasn't affected by the strong wind as more and more flew at the monster. It was as if she was protected by her own little bubble._

_"Final Gust!" She cried out, loudly, over the wind._

_The rangers' eyes went wide as the monster exploded right before their eyes and the wind began to die down. They just stared at Melissa in awe as they saw her still kneeling there as strong as ever._

_"Wow!" Rocky breathed._

_"Do you think you could do that in every fight?" Adam asked._

_"Sorry guys. It's not good to always do that. Especially with how the gem's been acting, lately. I'm not sure how much energy I can draw from the gem… Plus, it does drain me slightly." She paused as she noticed Tommy tense up in anger. "But, not as much as it would if I'd done it without the gem. This little beauty just saved all of our lives."_

* * *

Melissa snapped out of her memory and glared at Tommy. "You never trusted me to use my powers. Did you feel neglected now that the great and powerful White Ranger was not longer what he used to be?"

Tommy let out a frustrated sigh as she spoke. He'd almost had her back, but Mesogog's hold on her must have been stronger than he realized. "No. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"And, yet, you still feel that way. Don't you?"

"I know you're different than you were. I know that that experience made you a much stronger person. I _do_ know that! I just didn't want to accept the fact that it might happen again."

"So, you jumped to conclusions?" She asked, glaring still.

"Yes! Mel, please… This isn't you. I know it isn't."

"You know nothing... I am to marry Lord Mesogog in the morning. I must rest. Farewell, Black Ranger." She said as she stood up and let him alone.

Tommy let out a long sigh and rested his head against the wall of his cell. He stared into nothing as he thought back to the Melissa he once knew and feared that he might never see her again.

But, he was almost certain that the real Melissa had broken through as they both recalled what happened that day. He was also certain that if he didn't do something, when she married Mesogog, she'd be evil forever… and he couldn't let that happen. He_ wouldn't_ let that happen.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen**

"Hayley, is there anything we can do?" Conner asked, looking at the computer genius in front of him.

"I'm not sure. We've never dealt with anything as powerful as Melissa is when she's morphed… and now that she's evil…" She trailed off.

"She's twice as powerful." Kira finished for her. Hayley just nodded as an answer.

"But, there must be something." Ethan said. "I mean, we can't let her become Mesogog's queen… with Dr. O. as the wedding present."

"You're right, Ethan." Hayley said. "But, with Tommy without his morpher, there might not be a chance to save her."

"We can't just sit here, though." Conner said. "We have to do something."

"We have to try again. At least if we get Dr. O. out of there, he'll be able to help us." Kira said. "So, what do you say?"

"I say: Let's do it." Ethan said.

"Right." Conner agreed.

"Okay, but be careful. Mesogog is very tricky. Who knows what traps he's set for you?... And remember, once you get there, we'll lose contact, so I won't be able to help you once you get inside the fortress."

The teens nodded.

"We promise we'll bring them home." Kira said.

"Okay, guys. Let's do it." Conner said.

"Right." Ethan and Kira chimed in.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

* * *

Tommy sat on the floor in his cell. He hadn't realized how much time had passed since he'd spoken to Mel, until he saw her walking toward him, wearing a beautiful, white, off the shoulder wedding dress.

His eyes went wide as he looked at her. She was a vision of beauty; no matter how evil she was and whoever she was going to marry. He had always thought she was very pretty, but seeing her like this made him think that she was gorgeous. She would make someone very happy one day when she married; he wouldn't let her go through with this. Not today. Not to Mesogog.

He looked at her in surprise as she approached his cell and spoke first. Also, it was the way she spoke.

"I came to talk to you." She said, meekly, without him being able to ask why she was there.

Tommy furrowed his brow. For being evil, meek was something she shouldn't have been. "About what?" He asked, curiously as he scooted to the bars of his cell.

"About what you said to me, last night. You said things that only someone who really cared about me would say… I wanted to believe you, when you said that there is some good inside me, but I have yet to find it."

"Mesogog must have blocked off that part of your memory… But, I know you're good… caring… loyal… I'm just not sure how to break the spell that you're under." He let out an exasperated sigh as his eyes rested on the ring on her right hand. They went wide as he never realized that she had been wearing it. It had always just looked so perfect on her that it had blended in with her personna. It was a part of her. "Mel, your ring. That ring on your finger… do you remember how you got it?"

She thought for a moment as she stared at it, then slowly nodded as she remembered. "You guys gave it to me." She said, softly.

* * *

_Melissa sat quietly in her chair as she pretended to read her English book, but it wasn't fooling anyone. Her friends could tell that something was bothering her. This wasn't the first time that she's not been interested in her schoolwork. Not that her never turning the page didn't give it away._

_"Mel, you okay?" Aisha asked, looking up from her own book._

_Melissa braved a smile and nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine, why?"_

_"Well, I think you've stared at that page long enough. Your eyes haven't moved one bit… Is something wrong?" The Yellow Ranger gave her friend a worried glance._

_The others looked up from their own books to look at her. They too noticed that she didn't seem as lively as she had been before._

_"No. Nothing's wrong. I guess I just must be tired… Uh, why don't I just go home and rest? Who knows, I might be coming down with something." She said, gathering up her school things._

_"You need a ride?" Tommy asked._

_She shook her head. "Nah. I'll be fine… I'll see you guys tomorrow." She waved them goodbye and quickly left them in a puzzled daze._

_"What was that about?" Adam asked._

_"I dunno." Rocky said._

_"She seems like she's depressed." Billy said._

_"How so?" Kimberly asked, taking a sip of Tommy's smoothie without him noticing._

_"It's like how when Tommy lost his Green Ranger Powers." The genius of the group lowered his voice so no one would hear._

_Tommy nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean… It's not fun when you lose your powers. I mean, giving up something that powerful just makes you feel so drained and… not normal."_

_"So, what do you think we should do?" Aisha asked._

_"How about we throw a little party for her?" Kimberly asked._

_"Great idea." Adam said._

_"Yeah, that should perk her up a bit." Aisha said, smiling._

* * *

_Melissa sat on the couch in her living room, hugging her favorite stuffed green bear close to her. It was her most comfort when she was feeling as bad as she was. She'd had it since she was four; a gift from her grandparents._

_There were so many things that were bothering her that she just wanted to be left alone to think. She was lucky that her parents weren't getting home until later._

_She unconsciously flipped through the TV channels, as she tried to think to herself. She wasn't really watching the TV. It just made her feel slightly better, but she didn't know why. It just had always helped her to think. It was weird._

_She stopped flipping as she heard a knock at the front door. She set down her bear and got up to answer it._

_She wasn't expecting what she found when she opened the door. Tommy and Kimberly were standing there, worried looks on their faces._

_"Hi, Mel." Kimberly said, cheerily._

_"Hey." Melissa said, softly. "What are you guys doing here?"_

_"Uh, well, we've noticed that you've been down, lately and so we were wondering if you'd want to come to the Youth Center tonight, where there is going to be a party." The Pink Ranger gave a sweet smile to her friend as she waited for an answer._

_"Thanks, but, I'm not really in the mood to party." Melissa said._

_"What's wrong?" Tommy asked._

_"Nothing that you guys need to worry about. It's something that I have to deal with on my own."_

_"It's about losing your powers, isn't it?" The White Ranger asked. "Look, I know it's hard to go through, but you can't just block everyone out of her life." He said._

_"Tommy, that's not what's bothering me." Melissa said, letting out a short laugh._

_"It's not?" Kimberly asked._

_"No… Maybe you guys should come in and sit down. We need to talk."_

_Tommy and Kimberly nodded and entered the house, sitting down on the couch, careful not to sit on Melissa's bear. "So, what's wrong?" Tommy asked._

_"I've been meaning to tell you guys this for a few days, but I didn't know how. And this is very hard for me to say, since you guys have been so great to me since I moved here."_

_"But?" Kimberly asked._

_"But… my dad just got a raise and his old job back in __New York__… So, that means I have to move back there."_

_"Are you serious?" Tommy asked._

_"I wish that I wasn't, but I am." She plopped down onto the arm of the couch and picked up the stuffed animal._

_"So, you're leaving?" Kimberly asked, sadly._

_Melissa nodded. "Yeah, in two weeks… I'm sorry for not telling you guys sooner."_

_"We understand… hey, why don't you come to Ernie's anyway? We can throw you a goodbye party." Kimberly's smile widened in hope that her friend would cheer up._

_Melissa let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. "Okay." She gave him._

_"Great! Can I use your phone? I need to make a call." Kimberly asked. The former Green Ranger nodded as her friend jumped from the coach and ran into the kitchen, where the phone was located._

_Tommy and Melissa just laughed as they saw how eager their friend was. Melissa then felt Tommy's hand on hers._

_"It's going to be okay." He said._

_"I know."_


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen **

_The party at the __Youth __Center__ was nothing like Melissa would ever have suspected. Ernie had hung streamers and inflated some balloons that he'd found in the storage room, so it would at least look a little bit decorated. There was also a banner that said: Bon Voyage, Melissa, which looked like it had just been made right before the party._

_It seemed as though Kimberly had called a few people who would be able to help decorate, also while telling the others about their friend leaving. This made Melissa smile. She didn't realize how many people she had actually met and was "friends" with in Angel Grove. Either that or people just came because it was a party, which didn't bother her._

_"Guys, this is too much. You shouldn't've done all of this." Melissa said, looking around at all of their smiling faces._

_"We wanted to… All of us." Aisha said, motioning to all of the others teenagers in the room and Ernie. _

_"Yeah, there's no real reason why we shouldn't have." Adam said. "You deserve everything."_

_"You are so kind to everyone you meet. So, they, in turn, wanted to show you how great of a person you really are." Kimberly said._

_"I guess being around you guys brought that out in me. I never would've been able to do any of what I did if it wasn't for you." Melissa pointed out._

_"Yeah, but, you're the one who chose to befriend us. Your choices in life are what make you who you are, not who your friends are." Rocky said._

_"And besides, what good is it if you don't have friends?" Billy asked._

_"You guys are so great." Melissa said._

_"We're not done, yet." Tommy said, handing her a small box, wrapped in silver paper with a green bow on top. "We want you to have this."_

_She gave the box a puzzled look as she slowly opened it to see what was inside. Her eyes went wide at the beauty of the silver and green ring. "Oh, my God." She said, looking at all of them in turn. "I can't believe this."_

_"Like it?" Kimberly asked._

_Melissa smiled at it. "It's beautiful." Her smile then faded. "But, I can't take this."_

_"Yes, you can." Kimberly said. "It's our gift to you."_

_Melissa took the ring out of the box and looked closely at it. She couldn't remember ever getting a gift like this before; especially from her friends. But, she couldn't keep it. It would just remind her of what she was going to leave behind. "I can't." She placed the ring in Tommy's hand. "I can't take something so wonderful from you guys. You've already given me so much."_

_Tommy nodded. "Okay. But, we want you to know that we'll never forget you. You'll always be with us." A small smile spread across his lips._

_"I'll miss you guys so much."_

_His smile widened into a sly grin. "And that is why we got you something… so you'd never forget us." He took her hand and set the ring back into it. "And we're not going to take no for an answer."_

_She smiled. "You really didn't have to do this." She said as she placed the ring on her right ring finger. "But, I'll never forget you guys... I promise."_

* * *

"I never _did_ forget you." She said as she remembered the say she's received the ring.

"Neither did we." Tommy said.

She let out a low growl as she clutched her head. A searing pain had begun to shoot through it. It made her feel as though her brain was going to burst, it hurt so much. "No! I mustn't weaken!... But, I want to be the real me… I must marry Mesogog… I must become his queen!" She was now kneeling on the floor. The pain was slowly subsiding as she let go of her head and looked at Tommy.

"Mel?" He asked.

She didn't speak as she reached into the pouch that still hung from her waist. She pulled out the gold bracelet with the black gem in it. She looked at it for only a second before she threw it at him. "You'd better hurry up and get out of here. I don't want you to be here when I marry Mesogog."

Tommy didn't get a chance to speak to her again as she quickly walked away from him. He quickly proceeded to put on his bracelet and teleported out of there.

* * *

Hayley jumped as she saw Tommy appear right in front of her. "Tommy?" She asked as she looked into the tired eyes of her friend. "How?"

"There's no time to explain. Where are the kids?" He asked, as if nothing had happened to him.

"They just went to go rescue you…" She paused as she stared at him in awe. She still couldn't believe he was there.

"Oh, no. That's not good."

"Why?"

"The old Mel is beginning to come back and she's going to be angry when she realizes what happened."

"So?" She asked.

"You haven't seen her when she gets angry… and now that she can control the weather… there's no telling what'll happen."

Hayley bit her tongue as she heard Melissa's name. She's been trying to hold in what she wanted to say to Tommy. "Tommy, there's something I think we need to talk about."

"What?" He asked, trying to get a hold of the teens to tell them to back down, but he wasn't getting a signal. They must've been in Mesogog's lair already.

"It's about Melissa." Tommy stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "I know that you two were really good friends, I understand that. But, there's just something about her that I don't like."

"What are you saying?"

"I just… don't trust her… I mean, you two haven't spoken in years and suddenly she winds up on your doorstep. It just doesn't seem right to me for some reason." She couldn't believe the evil glare that Tommy was giving her.

Tommy couldn't beleive that she was saying these things. She was narmally such a trusting person. Perhaps it was the fact that Hayley was an expert in information and she knew nothing about Melissa. But, it still hurt him to hear her say such things. "I can't believe what you're saying, Hayley. You are the most trusting person I know and you say something like that? Mel is my friend and I trust her with my life." He flicked his wrist so his morpher would appear.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to help her." He said. "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

* * *

The teens slowly sneaked around Mesogog's lair, finding every corridor and passage empty. There was no reason for them to be empty. Something was up and it was beginning to creep them out.

"So, where is everyone?" Ethan asked.

"I dunno, but keep a sharp eye out." Conner said as he slowly led the way.

"Shh!" Kira said. "Listen!" Both guys stopped and listened closely. They could hear someone talking.

"Where's it coming from?" Ethan asked.

"Over here." Came a voice that was all too familiar. The teens turned quickly to see the Black Ranger standing in front of them.

"Dr. O.?" Kira asked.

"Yeah. It's me."

"How'd you escape?" Conner asked.

"I didn't… There's no time to explain. We have to get Mel out of here."

"Right." The teens said.

"But, where is she?" Ethan asked.

"Stay close and follow me. I know where they are."

They slowly crept down a long, dark corridor, making sure that they wouldn't be caught. Of course, nothing was ever as simple as they wanted it to be. They ran into the one person they hoped that they wouldn't.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Come the menacing voice of Mesogog.

"Let me take care of them, my king." Melissa spoke up from behind Mesogog, her white wedding dress still flowing around her.

"Of course, my queen." He said as she stood in front of him.

"Green Dino Raptor, Power Up!"

The rangers stood back slightly as the stared at the Green Ranger. They weren't exactly sure of what she was going to do to them.

"Now, my queen, destroy them!" Mesogog ordered.

She only nodded as she faced her fellow rangers. She didn't get into her fighting stance, which was making the teens nervous. But, Tommy was smiling and she could tell that he was.

"What are you waiting for? Destroy them!" Mesogog ordered.

She turned to her evil leader. "There's a problem, my lord."

"And what is that?"

"What is it that you say? Oh, yes… Humans can't be trusted." He was only able to give her a puzzled look as she pulled out her power saber and attacked him.

The teens gave shocked gasps, while Tommy cheered loudly. "Yes! I knew it worked!"

Mel joined her teammates, liking the welcoming feeling she was getting from them all.

"Welcome back." Tommy said.

"Thanks. It's good to be back." She said as she and the others got into their fighting stances and charged at their foes.


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty**

Melissa sat on a bench in the park, scribbling some details into a notebook. She hadn't worked on her article at all, so she figured that now was as good a time as any.

Mesogog and his goons weren't defeated, completely. It was only for the time being. They could expect an attack at any moment. But, for now, they were given the chance to do the things that they enjoyed.

Conner was somewhere else in the park, playing soccer with a few friends. Kira was off somewhere, writing music. Ethan was most likely hanging around either one of his friends, playing on his computer. Tommy and Hayley were most likely working on something for the team, but the thing, Melissa noticed, was that Tommy wasn't speaking to Hayley for some reason. She figured she'd have to ask what was going on between the two of them.

But, that could wait until later. All she wanted to do was work on her article. The only problem was that there was just so much that she didn't know how she was going to include it all.

Her details had filled at least six pages of her notebook and that was something, seeing as though she had very small handwriting. But, she wanted to describe everything from the monsters to the Power Rangers, themselves. The only problem with that was that she couldn't describe the way the rangers were when they would fight, seeing as though she had never paid attention, since so much was going on around her. This was going to be difficult.

She was so lost in thought as she stared at what she had written that she didn't notice someone sneaking up behind her. The person grabbed her around the waist and picked her up from the bench in a big bear hug.

She was startled by all of this, until she was set down and she saw who had hugged her. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the man in front of her. She was surprised to see him standing before her and wondered if it was really him. But, it was him. From his brown hair and eyes to the color of his red shirt, it was him.

"Jason?" She asked, breathlessly.

He smiled as he answered. "Did I scare you?"

"Well, yeah. What are you doing here?" She gave him a once oer, which he didn't seem to notice as he answered. There was nothing different about him, except the fact that he did look slightly more mature.

"I just opened a studio in town. What about you?" He asked.

"Just visiting, sadly. I'm doing a report on the Power Rangers for the New York Times… God, it's great to see you." She said, hugging him properly.

"You too. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you sitting on this bench. I thought I was seeing things."

"Nope. It's really me." She motioned for him to walk with her. "Come on. Let's get caught up.

"Okay."

They walked and talked for almost a half and hour, not really paying attention to where they were going. They were surprised when they found themselves in the middle of a soccer game. Melissa's eyes set on a kid weaving in and out through the other players.

She nudged Jason's arm. "Watch the kid in the red. He's really good."

"You've been coming here a lot, huh?" He asked.

"You know the park's always been my best place to think. I can't help it if I wander onto a game or two." She gave a smirk as she watched the kid in red, namely Conner, score a goal. She let out a loud cheer for him, as did a few others who were sitting by and watching, Kira and Ethan among them.

"Hey, there's Mel." Kira said, looking up from strumming her guitar. "Who's that guy with her?"

"I dunno, but he looks familiar." Ethan said, trying to remember where he had seen that face before. It just wasn't registering.

"Yeah, I know."

* * *

Melissa made her way into the house later than she expected. She hadn't realized how much time she'd spent with Jason, so before she knew it, it was almost midnight.

She walked in to find Tommy sleeping on the couch, an opened book draped over his slowly rising and falling stomach. But, something wasn't right about this picture and she knew it. She smiled slyly as she looked at him. "Nice try. I saw you at the window, I know you're awake." She said as she closed the door.

Tommy opened his eyes to look at her. She was smiling happily at him and it looked as though she was blushing. "What's up with you?" He asked.

"Well, mister worried-about-everyone-except-himself, if you must know... nothing." She gave an evil laugh as she walked passed him. "Oh, by the way, did you know your book is upside down?" It was his turn to blush. "You didn't have to wait up for me, you know. I am a big girl. I can cross the street by myself and everything."

"Sorry. It's just the way I am."

"You're not going to order me to report in every few hours, are you?" She asked, jokingly.

"No." He laughed, shaking his head. "So, where are you?"

"The park. I was working on my article."

Tommy gave her a puzzled look. There was something missing from this scene. "Don't you need something to write with to do that?"

She wondered what he was talking about, until she realized that she didn't have her notebook with her. She must've left it at Jason's studio, when he gave her a tour of it.

There was something bothering her, now that she realized it. She didn't really know if she should tell Tommy that Jason was in town. The two of them were like brothers, but she never exactly got to tell Jason that Tommy was living there. She figured she'd wait a day or two to tell them both.

"Yeah, I left it in my car. I'm going back tomorrow, so I figured that I'd just leave it in there."

He nodded as she let out a loud yawn. "Well, get to bed, then. You want that article to be your best ever, don't you?" She nodded. "Well, it won't be any good if you're half asleep."

"Yes, dad." She said, sarcastically as she headed to her bedroom.

Tommy just laughed as he heard her close the door to her bedroom.

* * *

Melissa changed directly into her pajamas, a pair of old, worn, baggy, black pants and a black and green layered tank top. But she didn't go directly to sleep. She decided to check up on things, since she hadn't done it since she returned to her normal self.

She logged onto her instant messenger to see her favorite computer buddy still on.

GreenEyedSerenity: **What are you still doing up? You're usually in bed by now.**

PinkLady105: _Well, when I'm not worried sick, I do. Where have you been? You haven't be on in like four days._

GreenEyedSerenity: **It's a long story.**

PinkLady105: _I've got time. What happened?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **Well, you're not going to believe this, but…**

Melissa then began to tell her everything she had experienced since she's arrived in Reefside.

GreenEyedSerenity: **…so, now Tommy is the Black Ranger, I'm the Green Ranger and to top it all off, I ran into another old friend, today.**

PinkLady105: _Who?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **Jason.**

PinkLady105: _And that's bad, why?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **Well, I didn't exactly tell him that Tommy was living here and I didn't exactly tell Tommy that I ran into him… and I don't know why I did it. I just don't.**

PinkLady105: _Maybe you still have feelings for Jason. I know you used to really like him before he, Trini, and Zack left._

GreenEyedSerenity: **Yeah, but I never got the chance to tell him that… and I think those feelings are starting to resurface.**

PinkLady105: _Really?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **Oh, God. You know, when I first saw his face, I couldn't help but stare… and he's still the great guy that he always was.**

PinkLady105: _But, what is he doing down there?_

GreenEyedSerenity: **He opened a karate studio… I'm just wondering why he didn't do it back home.**

PinkLady105: _Too many memories. I know that's why I only ever go back every once in a while. Everywhere I go, I find that I remember all the things that've happened… I remember, one day, I went to go visit the Command Center, but there was nothing left of it._

PinkLady105: _It just broke my heart._

GreenEyedSerenity: **Yeah, I know. Me too. I can't believe everything is gone.**


	21. Chapter Twenty One

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Conner stood next to the smoking engine of his car, trying desperately to get some service on his cell phone to call for a tow truck and to tell Tommy that he was going to be late for class. But, since the teacher was already at school, Conner wasn't able to reach him via communicator, which would have been so much easier.

But, his luck seemed to change as a red SUV pulled up behind his own red car. The man who climbed out seemed nice and even gave Conner his phone to call where he needed to.

"Thanks. I really appreciate this." He said, getting the feeling that he should know the older man. His face seemed familiar, yet he just couldn't put his finger on who he was.

"No problem. I'm Jason."

"Conner." The teen said as he saw the tow truck pull up.

"Why don't I give you a lift to school? It's on my way, anyway and you really shouldn't be left out here by yourself."

"Plus, there's the fact that I'm going to be late for Dr. Oliver's class and he doesn't usually like it when you're late… so, yeah, thanks."

* * *

Jason's SUV pulled into the school parking lot, alongside a black jeep. Jason looked the school over, which made him think of his old friends. It also made him smile that he'd run into Melissa, yesterday. OF all the people he could have run into, he was glad that it was her.

"Thanks, Jason. I owe you one." Conner said, climbing out.

"No problem… If you really want to repay me, I can hire you to work for me. It's not a glamorous position, but I need the help."

"Actually, yeah. That would be great. Where at?"

"It's the new karate studio a few blocks down the road, near the park. Be there after school?"

"You got it." Conner said.

"Conner, there you are. I was getting worried." A familiar voice said, loudly to its student, so he would know that he was there.

"Sorry. Dr. O. My car broke down and Jason, here gave me a lift."

Tommy looked through the opened passenger side window to see the face of his best friend. A smile crossed his lips. "Jase?"

Jason smiled and proceeded to climb out of the vehicle. "Tommy, I didn't know you were here, 'Bro." He said, giving his former teammate a manly hug.

"Yeah, I moved out here a few months ago… Uh, but I've got to get to class. How about we talk, later, though?"

"Yeah, sure. Why don't you come with Conner to my new studio? We can talk there."

"Yeah, that'll be great."

* * *

Melissa sat on the same bench as yesterday. But, today, she had a different reason to be sitting there. She and Jason promised to meet there, so they could talk more. Plus, there was the fact that she had left her notebook in his building. But, she had her spare with her, this time, so she wouldn't be just sitting there, bored out of her mind.

"Forget something?" A familiar voice asked.

Mel turned to see Jason heading over to her, her notebook in hand. "Thanks." She said, taking it from him.

"I hope you don't mind, but I took a peak." He smiled as he saw her lightly blush. "It's really good… Send me a copy once it's finished."

She nodded. "Okay. I'll do that." She was now happy that she didn't include anything that would give her secret away. She figured that Jason would find out sooner or later, but if he were to find out, she didn't want to be the one who told. She figured that she'd let Tommy be the one who told. She smiled as he took the seat next to her, but his leg bounced nervously. Something was up. "You okay?"

"Okay, I know I said I'd be able to spend the day with you, but I just hired this kid… so, how about I make it up to you?" He asked.

"What did you have in mind?" She asked, shyly, her blush now much deeper than before.

"Dinner… with me." It was his turn to blush. He was a bit rusty when it came to asking girls out. He actually couldn't believe that those words escaped his mouth.

"Jason Lee, are you asking me out on a date?" She asked her surprise clear in her voice.

He paused before answering. "Yeah… a date… what do you say?"

She smiled and nodded. "I'd like that."

"I thought you might say that, so I already made reservations. So, where should I pick you up?"

She was about to give him Tommy's address, but then she thought twice. "Um, how about I meet you at the studio? The guy I'm staying with is kinda… weird." She couldn't believe that she had said that. But, what else could she say?

He gave her a puzzled look. "You're not staying at a hotel?"

"No. My boss is kind of cheap, so he arranged for me to stay with his nephew." She shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. I couldn't say no or I wouldn't have gotten this assignment."

"I don't like the sound of this." He said, tensing up at the sound of this whole thing.

"There's nothing bad about it… really. It's just… weird." She said. She wasn't lying. This whole situation was kind of weird.

"Look, why don't you stay with me? This doesn't sound safe."

"Jase, thanks for caring and all, but I'll be fine… So, what time is the reservation for?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Seven." He said, numbly. He still didn't like the idea of her staying with a guy that she said was weird.

"Okay, well, if you're going to meet that kid, I suggest that you do. It looks like he just pulled up." She said, pointing to the kid who just entered the parking lot.

"Right. I'll see you at seven?" He asked.

"Nothing can stop me." She said, smiling as he got up from the bench and ran over to the studio to meet with Conner and, what looked to Melissa to be, Tommy. She decided that she should leave before one of them decided to call her over.

She got up from the bench and pulled out her cell phone. She searched through her directory until she found the number she was looking for.

"Hey, Kira? It's Mel. Can you meet me at the mall in ten minutes? I need some girl advice."

* * *

Kira walked up to Mel, who was sitting on a bench as she waited for her. "So, what's up?" She asked.

"Okay, I know you don't like this whole mall thing, I don't either, but I have a date tonight and I need help finding something to wear."

Kira gave her a disgusted look. "What?" This was the last thing she had expected to hear.

"Yeah, I know, but I didn't expect on having a date, while out here and I have this dress in mind… I just need someone else's opinion… Please?"

"It sounds pretty important… Who is this guy?"

"I'll tell you only if you help me." The older woman smiled evilly at the teen.

That got Kira's attention. She wasn't the one who would usually care about something like this, but it seemed important to Melissa. Plus, there was the fact that she wanted to know who the guy was. "Okay, fine."

Melissa jumped up from her seat and pulled the teen into the store that she'd been staring at. "Thank you… Okay, you watched Tommy's video diary, right?" Kira nodded. "Okay, so the guy I'm going out with is Jason, the first Red Ranger." She lowered her voice, just in case anyone was listening in.

"Wow." Kira said.

"And I only ask you this favor, 'cause I really like him and she's such a great guy."

Kira laughed at how eager the older woman was. "I'll bet he is."

"Okay, let me explain. My feelings for Jason are almost like… your feelings for Trent." She said as she sifted through the racks to find the dress she'd been looking for.

Kira gave her a puzzled look. "How do you know about Trent? Dr. O. sent him to find something. You haven't even met him."

"I don't have to meet him to know that you really care for him. I can feel it… It's kinda of how I can feel that Hayley doesn't trust me or that Tommy is heart broken and in love at the same time."

"Wait. Hayley doesn't trust you? Why?" This surprised the teen. Hayley was alsways so trusting of everyone.

"I don't know. I don't know why she thinks that, I just know that she does. Ah-ha! Here it is!" Melissa said, pulling out the dress she wanted. It was a black dress with a green shimmer. The perfect dress for her. It had a long skirt with a small, calf-high slits on each side. It had spaghetti straps and a bodice that cut right in the middle of her chest, just where her shoulders met her arms. "What do you think?"

"It's very pretty." Kira answered as she still wondered why Hayley wouldn't trust her.

"Okay, but you have to be totally honest when I try it on."

"Okay." Kira took a seat outside of the dressing room as Melissa took in the dressing room to try it on. "So, what's Jason like, anyway?"

"You know, he hasn't changed a bit since I last saw him. He's sweet and charming and funny."

"Reminds me of Trent." Kira smiled as she thought of him.

"Have you told him how you felt?" Melissa asked.

"I can't." The yellow ranger picked at her nails, from the nervous feeling she was getting.

"Why not? Doesn't he feel the same?"

"That's the thing. I don't know if he does or not."

"Well, how are you going to know if you don't ask? Okay, please be honest."

The door to the dressing room slowly opened as Melissa slowly stepped out. All Kira could do was smile as she saw the woman before her. The dress fit her perfectly. It hugged in all the right places and even blended in with her green eyes. It was perfect.

"Too much?" The Green Ranger asked.

"No. You look very beautiful… but, you need shoes… Wait right there." She got up from the chair and wandered over to the small shoe section the store had. She found the perfect pair. They were black backless with a small strand of green ivy across the strip of the toes. "Here. Try these." She said, handing the shoes over.

Melissa tried them on, surprised that they were the right size. She looked at the outfit in the mirror. They were perfect.

"Absolutely perfect." Kira said, smiling.

* * *

**Okay, I know this is a girly chapter, but keep in mind that I am, in fact, a girl. Please read and review. I could use them.**

**And if you couldn't tell, I started to get writer's block and when I get writer's block, it gets kinda... well, dull. But, I'm slowly recovering from that. The dull parts are just to bridge what's going to happen later. **

**Thanks for reading.**


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

Melissa exited her bedroom at a half past six, fully dressed and made up with a flesh-colored lipstick and light green eye shadow. She wore a long silver chain with a wolf-shaped pendant hanging from it which rested just below the nape of her neck and made her look stunning.

Tommy looked at her in surprise. He'd never seen her dress this beautiful before. "Whoa! Why so dolled up?" He asked, taking off his reading glasses to look at her.

"I have a date, Tommy." She said as she gathered a few items into her purse.

"So, who is he? What does he do?"

She could tell he was joking. "Don't start this, now. I'm going to be late." She hurried up and put on her jacket. She checked herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. "Okay, you have my cell phone number. Call me if something comes up, but only if it's a dire emergency. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay." He said as she walked out of the front door.

* * *

She pulled into the parking lot of The Red Dragon Karate Studio. She saw Jason waiting over next to his SUV, a small smile on his lips. 

"Hey." She said, locking the doors to her car. "Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay." He said, holding out a rose for her. "Here. I bought this for you."

She smiled as she accepted it. "Thanks." She brought it up to her nose and breathed in its sweet scent.

"Shall we go?" He asked.

She nodded as he helped her into the car.

* * *

Tommy was busy reading one of his many books on dinosaurs, when he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He set down the book and picked it up. 

"Hello?" He asked, taking off his glasses and rubbing his tired eyes.

"Tommy, my boy! How are things?"

Tommy smiled at the sound of the man's voice. "Hey, Uncle Matt… Things are going really good."

"So, you and Melissa are getting along, then?"

"Yeah. We're doing great. I'm afraid she's not here, right now, though."

"Oh… Is she off working on her article?" Uncle Matt asked.

"Uh… no. She… She's out on a date, right now."

"A date?"

Tommy laughed slightly. He knew what this was about, now. His uncle had tried to set him up with Melissa, not knowing that they used to be friends. It was rather funny. "Yeah." He flipped on the TV and began to flip through the channels. He had a feeling this was going to be a long conversation. He always flipped through the channels while he was talking on the phone. He didn't exactly know why, though. It was a bad habit. He had figured he's caught it from Melissa, since she did the same thing.

His feelings of a long conversation quickly faded as he turned on the news. There was a hideous monster attacking Reefside. He needed to do something. "Uh, Uncle Matt, as much as I am enjoying this conversation, I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow." He then hung up the phone and brought his bracelet to his lips. "Rangers, we've got trouble."

* * *

Melissa and Jason sat at their table at the fancy Italian restaurant that Jason had made reservations at. He heard that the food was really good, so he figured it would be a good place to take Melissa to make up his leaving on her to hire Conner. It was a really beautiful place with low light, soft music, and great food. It was perfect. 

Melissa and Jason talked casually as they smiled at one another. They were happy that they did this. It _was_ a good thing that he had bailed on her at the last minute.

"So, I ran into Tommy, today." Jason said.

Melissa, who had been taking a sip of the wine in front of her, spit it back into the glass. "Really?" She asked, coughing lightly.

"You okay?" He asked, laughing slightly. She just nodded as an answer. "Yeah. I can't believe him, you know. He's changed so much. Can you believe he's a science teacher and has a PhD in Paleontology?"

"Amazing." She said, wiping her mouth with her napkin.

"Plus, he had this woman staying with him." Her eyes went wide. "Yeah, I know. He say's she's a real whack-job."

Her hand tensed around her napkin. "He did, did he?" She asked. Then, she noticed Jason stifle a laugh. She knew what he was up to. "He told you, didn't he?"

"Yeah." He took a sip from the glass in front of him. "Why didn't you tell me you were staying with him?"

"I dunno. I really didn't think about it." She laughed softly.

"So, then, you came up with the story about you staying with a weird psycho?" He asked, not able to hold his smile back anymore.

"I don't know what I was thinking. Sorry." She apologized.

"It's okay, really."

* * *

Tommy flew through the air and landed hard on the ground as he tried to fight the monster in front of him and the teens. "Ow!" Was all he said as he got up. 

"You okay, Dr. O.?" Conner asked.

"Yeah." Tommy answered as he pulled out his Bracchio Staff. "Let's get this guy."

* * *

"You wanna dance?" Jason asked. 

Melissa was caught slightly off guard at the question. "Uh… sure." She set down her napkin and took his hand as he held it out for her. "You know, you look very beautiful." He said, softly as they swayed to the music while out on the dance floor.

"It's the dress." She blushed.

"I didn't just mean tonight. You've always looked beautiful." That made her blush even more. She didn't know what to say to that, so she just let out a girlish giggle and that was somethign that she never did. "I have a confession, Mel." He said.

"About what?"

"About why I really asked you out, tonight… I have to admit that I've wanted to do it since high school."

"Really?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. I guess I just never got the chance, but I'm glad I got the chance, tonight."

"Me too." She smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder as they continued to dance.

* * *

The Rangers were losing. They were all tired and on the verge of collapsing. They needed help and fast. 

"We can't do this anymore." Ethan said.

"This guy is too strong!" Kira said.

"We need help!" Conner gave in.

Tommy nodded. "Right. Just hold out a little longer while I call Mel."

"Right." The teens said.

* * *

"I'm glad we did this." Jason said. 

"Me too. I'm having a really good time." She said as they headed back toward the table, hand in hand.

They blushed at one another as their hearts began to race. They knew what the other was feeling and the feeling was mutual. Their lips needed to meet. They inched closer and closer, until there was only a breath between the two of them.

They smiled, slight as they both leaned in, but groaned when they heard the familiar sound of a ringing cell phone. Melissa rolled her eyes as Jason just gave her a puzzled look.

"Sorry… It's important… I hope." She said as she reached for the distraction. "This had _better_ be good." She growled.

"Mel, we're in very big trouble, here! We need your help!" She heard Tommy say.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Why now?" She asked. "I'll be right there." She hung up the phone and turned to Jason who was looking slightly hurt. He knew what was coming. "I'm really sorry, but I have to take care of something. It's for work… I'm really sorry." She said as she gathered her purse and her jacket and left Jason to stare dumbfounded at what just happened.

* * *

The Green Ranger appeared on the scene, making the others cheer. 

"Glad you're here." Tommy said.

"I'm really not in the mood." She said to him as she faced Octopod, a monster that was half octopus and half plant. "Let's get this over with." She growled.

"Ooh! Another girl ranger… I'm shaking in my leaves!" The monster mocked.

"You should be." She said, falling to one knee. "Green Raptor Thunder Blast!" She cried out, the gem in her helmet glowing brightly. Clouds quickly loomed overhead, thunderclaps and lighting strikes occurring almost instantly. She pulled out her Power Saber and raised it toward the sky. "Power Up!"

A bolt of lightning struck her sword, illuminating it. She then proceeded to slash at the Octopod. The monster was being attacked by bolts of lighting coming from her saber.

"Say goodnight, Slimey!" She said as she stopped slashing and watched as the monster was defeated.

"Whoa!" Kira said.

"Awesome!" Conner chimed in.

"Cool!" Ethan added.

Melissa didn't say anything as she walked passed them. She didn't feel as though she needed to.

Tommy felt bad. "Mel?" He asked. She turned sharply to look at him. "I'm really sorry about ruining your date."

She let out a long sigh as her anger subsided. There was no need to be mad at him. "It's okay… I'd better go and talk to him."

Tommy nodded as he saw her slowly walk away.

* * *

**I recently got a review saying how sucky the last two chapters were. And I thank you. You were the first person to have enough guts to tell me. And I know this chapter wasn't up to my standards either, but this is where I started to get writer's block and when that happens, it just goes down hill.**

**But, thanks to all who reviewed and I ask that you please keep reading this, because it will get better.**


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Melissa wandered into Jason's studio to see him working out on a heavy bag. She was now clad in her green and white layered tank top, a pair of blue jeans, and her favorite pair of sandals. She wanted to be comfortable for this confrontation and she just wouldn't be comforatble in a dress. She let out a small sigh as she walked up to him. He paid no attention to her as she stood there.

"Jase?" She asked. He didn't answer as he kept punching. She walked around the bag to look at his face. He looked as though he was in pain. Pain that she caused. She bit her lower lip as she held back her tears and let out a long sigh. "Jase, I'm really sorry about leaving, tonight… It was something that I just had to do."

"For work?" He asked, finally, but not pulling away from the punching bag.

"Yes… I'm not saying that my job is more important than going out on a date with you. It was just that I couldn't miss out on it."

"It couldn't have waited?" He asked, angrily.

"I'm sorry, but it couldn't. There was a monster attack in town and I had to take notes on it. I needed it for my article." She got a disgusting taste in her mouth as she lied to him. That was something that had never happened to her. Of course, she had never hurt someone this badly by running off on them.

He stopped punching and looked at her, an angry and disappointed glare on his face. "It seems as though you've got your priorities wrong." He then went back to the heavy bag.

She tried to explain to him a little more, but she just wasn't able to. She let out a frustrated sigh as she gave up. "Fine. But, for what it's worth, I really would've liked to finish our date." She then proceeded to the door, where she ran into Tommy.

"Hi." He said, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets.

She gave him a meek smile. "Hi."

"I'm really sorry…" He tried to say.

"Don't be. You needed me and I made the choice to help. This isn't your fault." She planted a small kiss on his cheek for reassurance before she turned to leave.

"Let me talk to him."

"Good luck." She said as she exited the studio.

Tommy let out a nervous sigh and approached his best friend. "Hey." He greeted.

"I'm not really in the mood to talk." Jason said, punching harder than he should've been.

"You're going to hurt yourself is you keep doing that."

"I don't care." The former red ranger said as his punching got even harder. He was lucky that he was wearing gloves.

"Jase, come on. We need to talk."

"About what?" He asked as he pushed away from the heavy bag. "About how I got my heart stomped on, last night? No thanks."

"Jase, I'm really sorry about that."

"Why'd she do it, man? For one stupid article?" He paused as he looked at his friend. "Is there something that I'm missing?"

Tommy let out a frustrated sigh. He didn't want to do this, but he feared that nothing would be right if he didn't. "It's my fault, 'Bro."

"Don't take the fall for this."

"But, I have to… Look, I was the one who called, last night."

Jason looked at him in surprise. "You?"

"Look, before you jump to conclusions, there's something that you have to see."

"What are you talking about?"

"You can ask questions later. Just please come with me." The Black Ranger said.

Jason let out a long sigh and nodded. "Okay."

* * *

Melissa sat in the living room, trying to work on her article, but she couldn't concentrate. So much was running through her mind that nothing was coming out on paper.

She let out a low growl and threw her notebook onto the coffee table. "Oh, it's hopeless." She said as she heard the front door open and close. "Tommy?"

"Yeah." He said as he walked into the living room.

"How'd it go?"

"We're about to find out." He said as Jason entered the room, examining everything around him, until his eyes set on Melissa.

She gave a puzzled look as she stood up. "You're not going to do what I think you are… are you?"

The Black Ranger nodded. "Yeah."

"Tommy, are you sure you want to do that?"

"Mel, it's Jason and I think he had the right to know. It's my fault you left anyway."

She shook her head. "No. It's not. How many times do I have to keep telling you? You needed me, so I made a choice."

"Can we please get this over with?" Jason asked agitated that he didn't have a clue of what they were talking about. Plus, tehre was the fact that he didn't want to be in a room with Melissa any longer than he had to.

Tommy nodded. "Yeah. Follow me." He walked over to the dinosaur statue and pulled down the jawbone. He saw Jason's eyes go wide as Melissa walked down ahead of them. He let Jason go ahead of him so he could close the panel.

"What is this?" Jason asked.

"Just wait." Tommy answered.

Jason's eyes went wide a second time as he saw the many computer consoles and the dinosaur footprint emblem all over. "Wow!" He said.

"Okay, now that you've seen this, I suppose I should tell you what it all is." Jason nodded. "Jase, welcome to the new Command Center for the Power Rangers' Dino Thunder team."

Jason's mouth dropped as he stared at his friend. "Power Rangers?"

"Afraid so." Melissa spoke up.

Jason gave her a shocked look. "You knew?"

"That's kind of why I had to leave…" She held up the arm with her bracelet on it. "You see this?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It's beautiful."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the only one who has one."

Tommy pulled up his sleeve and help up his own. "And it's not just us." He said, typing something up on the main console. "You know Conner, Kira, and Ethan, right?" He asked as their pictures appeared on the screen.

"Not them too?" Jason asked, surprised by all of this.

"They were the first three Dino Thunder Rangers."

"_First_ three?"

"Then, it was my turn." Tommy flicked his wrist to show his friend his morpher.

Jason looked from Tommy to Melissa. "And you? You're in on this too?"

"Afraid so. I was the last one." She said.

"There is another, though. Trent. But, he's on a mission at the moment." Tommy said.

"I can't believe this. Rangers again?"

"You act as if we planned this, Jase." Melissa said. "There's a difference between these gems and the old power coins."

"How so?" The former Red Ranger asked.

"These gems bond to your genetic structure. You become part of them." Tommy said.

Jason shook his head to clear it. "This is just all too much. I think I need to sit down." He took a seat in front of the main console. He stared at it for a moment, then back at his friends. He stared at them in awe.

Melissa knelt down in front of him and placed a gentle hand over his. "Now, do you understand why I had to leave?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I just don't see how you got involved in this. How could you agree to do this again?"

"Well, that's the thing." She said.

"The Dino Gems in the morphers choose you. You don't choose them." Tommy finished for her.

"Where'd the morphers come from?"

"A programming genius."

"Billy?" Jason asked.

"Not exactly. Hayley. She's an old friend from MIT. She built them, the Raptor Cycles, and even the Zords." Tommy explained.

"I can't believe this."

"Well, you're going to have to." Tommy said as the all too familiar alarm began to sound. "We've got trouble." He turned to Melissa. "Ready?"

"Ready." She answered.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!" He exclaimed.

"Green Dino Raptor, Power Up!" She cried out.

* * *

Elsa cackled loudly as she loomed over the fallen Conner. She held her sword to his chest as the evil gleam in her eyes began to glow. "Why didn't I think of this, before? Taking you brats down one by one would be much easier."

"Don't be so cocky, Elsa!" The Black Ranger's voice called to her. "You still have us to deal with." He said, meaning him and Melissa.

"Ah, yes. The mother and father have come to protect the whelp… But, it won't matter once I destroy him."

"Just try it!" The Green Ranger called to her.

"And what are you going to do about it, huh?"

"Raptor Whip!" She called out, revealing the brand new weapon that Hayley had created.

"Ooh! I'm so scared." Elsa mocked.

"You should be." Conner said as the whip latched itself onto Elsa's sword and yanked it away, allowing him to roll to safety.

Melissa pulled her whip back as Conner ran over to her and Tommy. "You've got some explaining to do." She said to him.

"Later." He said as he revealed his morpher. "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

"Oh, no." Elsa said as the three of them faced her.

"Give up, Elsa! You won't win!" Tommy said.

She glared at them for a minute before flashes of light appeared around her. "For now, Black Ranger. But, my master shall destroy you and this miserable planet! T-Drones, take care of them!" She then disappeared from their sights.

"Let's get 'em!" Tommy said, charging toward their enemies. He managed to kick two in the chest, while Melissa and Conner took down two each. They were too easy to defeat. There was something up, but they didn't really care at the moment the Tyrranodrones disappeared. All that mattered was that they were gone.

"Power Down!" The three said in unison.

"Thanks." Conner said.

"Why are you out this late, anyway?" Melissa asked, checking her watch. "It's after midnight."

"I know. I just needed to go for a walk." The teen said, rubbing his sore neck.

"Something wrong?" Tommy asked.

"I guess it's everything that's happened this passed week. I mean, with Mel coming to visit and becoming a ranger again. And hearing everything about what happened last time…" He trailed off. "You guys have been through a lot, huh?"

"Yeah, we have." She answered.

"Did you ever think it was too much?"

"Sometimes, but then we remembered all the good we did. That makes it all worth it." She continued.

"Don't worry, Conner. You'll get used to it and you'll feel the same way." Tommy finished.

"I hope so." The teen said.


	24. Chapter Twenty Four

**Okay, for those of you who wanted some ass kicking action, here it is! Please read and review!**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

He saw her sitting on that same bench, the sun making her blond hair shine and her eyes sparkle. Melissa was beautiful. He'd admit it to himself. But, he knew that the events from the passed two days might have changed the way that she had felt about him. But, his feelings hadn't changed for her, even if it seemed like they had.

He smiled as he saw her sitting there, strumming a guitar. He hadn't seen her around a guitar for a long time. He wasn't even sure that she had been around a guitar in a long time.

He wanted to go over and talk to her, to apologize to her, but she wasn't alone this time. Kira sat with her, trying to understand what the older woman was trying to teach her. He saw Kira nod as Melissa handed the guitar back to her. She started to play, but struggled slightly with it.

Kira laughed slightly as she tried to play the right note, but she just couldn't do it. Melissa smiled and instructed her to keep trying. Kira nodded again and continued to play, this time hitting the right note. She was happy that she had Melissa to talk to about learning new things. If she went to a professional, they wouldn't be this lenient on her, plus it was more fun.

The older woman smiled as she felt eyes upon her. She looked up to see her admirer standing across the way, a smile on his lips and clad in one of his famous red shirts. She gave him a kind smile and got up from the bench, telling Kira that she would be back in a minute.

"Hey." She said to him.

"Hi." He replied. "What're you up to?"

"Helping Kira with a song."

"Telling her about your old band days?" He asked, joking slightly.

She let out a short laugh. "Yeah, really. Not much of those were around after I came here… but, I've been telling her a bit, yeah."

He let out a frustrated sigh. He was stalling and he was pretty sure that she knew it. "Look, Mel, I apologize… for everything."

"I know... It's hard to swallow all of this, I know."

"I want to make it up to you." He said, quickly.

"Jase, you really don't have to." She said.

"I know. But, I want to." He seemed sincere as he looked at her the way so he could make her swoon.

She gave a small smile as she gave in. "What did you have in mind?"

"A picnic, tomorrow? Just the two of us." He took a hold of her hand and brought it up to his lips to give it a light kiss. "What do you say?"

She gave a small giggle as his lips touched the back of her hand again. "Well, how can I turn down an invitation like that?"

"Great. So, I'll meet you here at noon?" He asked.

"Sounds great." She said, taking her hand back before he decided to kiss it again and walked back to Kira.

Jason cheered to himself as he walked back to the karate studio, an extra bounce in his step.

"What was that about?" Kira asked.

"He asked me out again." Melissa said as she took the guitar from Kira and strummed on it for a second, as though to get the song in her head.

"Wow. I'm impressed. He must really like you."

"Either that or he just wants us to finish _one_ date before I have to go back to New York." She handed the guitar back to the Yellow Ranger. "Okay. Try it in a lower key. That might help."

Kira nodded and began to play in a lower key than she had before. She stopped as quickly as she had begun. "I've got a great idea. I'm playing a gig at Hayley's on Saturday. Why don't you come along? We can sing it, together."

The older woman smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'd like that."

* * *

Elsa paced liked a caged animal in front of her master. She was angry and very disappointed in herself. "They just won't give up!" She let out a low growl. "Ugh! I hate them!" 

"Calm yourself, Elsa. I still have a few plans up my sleeve." Mesogog informed her.

"Yes, but they won't do any good, it seems. Every time we get an advantage, they seem to get even more powerful. It's disgusting!"

"I agree that it is… But, there are human and have feelings and emotions. Take the Green Ranger, for example." He pointed out as an image of her appeared on his viewing screen. They watched as she and Jason talked on their picnic, their feelings for each other quite obvious.

"Yes, I see what you mean. She is in love with this human. She'd have no choice but to give up her powers to protect him… My Lord, you are a genius."

"Yes. I know. Take some Tyrrannodrones down there… Make the girl suffer."

Elsa grinned evilly. "Yes, sire."

* * *

Melissa smiled as she nibbled on a piece of sliced apple. Jason was making her laugh as he told her stories of before she'd arrived in Angel Grove. "So, Ernie trips and the cake goes flying… It landed all over Bulk and Skull. It was hilarious. They deserved it, but it was hilarious." He said, taking a sip of water out of the bottle in front of him.. 

"I'm sorry I missed it." She said.

"Me too… You know, I'm really glad we did this."

"Me too."

"I don't understand why I thought it would be hard to ask you out, in high school. I'm having a great time."

"Well, when you, Trini, and Zack left, I was still the punk-rocker chick who didn't really want anything to do with any of you. I just hung out with you 'cause I didn't know anyone else."

"True." He smiled, leaning in slightly closer to her. She blushed as she noticed this, but didn't say a word as he lightly sniffed her hair. "Mmm." He said. "You smell really good. What is that?"

"Lavender." She said trying not to laugh as his face appeared only inches before hers.

"It's really pretty." He said, softly.

"Thanks." She replied just as softly as they leaned in once more to kiss.

"Ugh! Don't make me sick!" They heard an evil voice say from behind them.

Their lips were only centimeters apart when Melissa heard that familiar voice. She looked up to see Elsa standing over her and Jason.

"What the?" Jason asked.

"Don't worry. Just get out of here." She said as she jumped to her feet and got into her fighting stance. "What do you want, Elsa?"

"To have some fun." The dark-souled woman said as she ordered the Tyrrannodrones to attack.

Jason didn't run away. It wasn't in his nature to run from a fight, so he stayed to help. He knocked a few of them to the ground, but they quickly got right back to their feet.

Melissa let out an exasperated sigh as she kicked the few that Jason was fighting, in the head, knocking them out. "Would you get out of here?" She asked as she shoved at him.

"I'm not leaving you, here." He said as he did a backward flip kick to one Tyrrannodrone.

"Ugh! Men!" She said as she did a few cartwheel kicks, knocking five drones down.

Jason stared in awe of her. He'd never seen her fight like that. In fact, he's never seen _anyone_ that agile and light on their feet. She was quick and strong. "Wow!" Was all he said as he saw her take down two more with one move.

Elsa growled evilly. Melissa was taking down all of the drones and she didn't have one single chance to get at Jason. "That's it! I've had enough!" She charged up her sword and fired an energy blast toward an unsuspecting Jason.

He turned too late.

But, Melissa quickly rushed to stand in front of him, hoping that she would be able to stop the blast. She closed her eyes as her hands began to feel warm and only thought it to be the energy blast. But, then she felt the blast hit. It pushed her back, slightly, but it didn't do any damage to neither her nor Jason.

"What?" Elsa roared, stopping the energy blast. "It can't be!"

Melissa opened her eyes to see Elsa's eyes as round as saucers. Then, she realized what she was looking at. She raised her hands to eye level. She couldn't believe what she saw. Her hands were on fire, flames emitting from somewhere among her fingertips. "Huh?" She asked.

"Grr! This isn't over!" Elsa said as she teleported.

"Mel?" Jason asked as he tried to touch her hands, but was warded off by the heat the flames were letting off. "How?"

"I don't know." She said as the flames died down. "But, I hope someone does." She pulled her communicator to her wrist. "Tommy, there's something you and the others need to see."


	25. Chapter Twenty Five

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

****

Tommy stared in awe at Melissa's hands as she was able to summon the flames again, but she wasn't exactly sure _how_ she did it. She just imagined the flames surrounding her hands once again and there they appeared.

He couldn't believe it; neither could the others.

"It's amazing." Hayley said.

"Wow!" Conner said, tempted to touch them, but decided not to when he realized that they were, in fact, real flames.

"What do you think it is?" Melissa asked.

"I don't know. It's possible that it's part of the gem's powers. Like, when you go into Super Dino Mode." Tommy said. "And this just started?"

"Yeah. Elsa appeared with some Tyrrannodrones and it just happened."

"Wait. I though the green Dino Gem had control over the weather." Ethan pointed out.

"It does… in a way." Tommy said. "It's possible that it's not just the weather… It could be the four elements."

"You mean like Earth, Fire, Wind and Water?" Jason asked as he stood protectively behind Melissa. He wanted to be there, just in case she needed to be comforted. Plus, he was also curious to what was going on.

"Yes. Exactly. You see, the weather is made up of all of them, but now that you have this… fire ability, it might be bigger than we imagined."

"Maybe that's why Mesogog is after her." Kira said.

"She's powerful enough to destroy the planet." Ethan added.

"Not yet, she isn't. Her abilities haven't fully developed. But, yes, in time, she will have that ability."

Melissa let out a loud whine. "Whatever happened to being normal?" She asked as she leaned against Jason's chest in a huff.

He wrapped his arms around her waist as he chuckled slightly. "Normal? What's that?" He joked.

"Ha, ha. Very funny." She replied.

* * *

Mesogog's fortress was ablaze with thunderous crashes as things were thrown to the floor and across the room. Elsa was the one who was doing the throwing as she picked up some worthless glass and sent it flying. She made sure not to throw something very important or Mesogog would have her head.

"It seems that you are troubled, Elsa." Mesogog said to her as he entered the chamber.

"Forgive me, my lord. But, I tried to do what you told me, yet it still didn't work. The Green Ranger is tapping into her powers. She is dangerous to us."

"Yes, I know. Yet, she is also useful to us." The half-human, half-dinosaur said.

Elsa gave her master a confused look. "I don't understand."

"With her just tapping into the Green Dino Gem's powers, she will be unable to control them… So, she is just as dangerous to herself as she is to us."

"So, what do we do, my lord?"

"When Zeltrax reawakens from his recharging slumber, we shall make sure that we pay her a visit… but, for now, I suppose I can have some fun with her."

"Ooh! What did you have in mind?" She asked, evilly.

* * *

_Melissa was running quickly through the empty streets of Reefside, looking for some place to hide from the creature that was following her. But, every building that she came to, the doors were locked and the lights were out. There was nowhere she could go to hide from the beast._

_She tried calling out for help, but there was no one else around. The city seemed deserted. But, there _had_ to be someone who could help her. But, who and how would she get a hold of them?_

_Then, it struck her. Her communicator! She pulled her bracelet to her mouth. "Tommy? Tommy, can you hear me?" No sound came back to her. "Conner? Kira? Ethan? Can anyone hear me?" She asked as she ducked behind a dumpster, so she could catch her breath. "Oh, please! Someone help!" She called out. But, there was still no answer._

_Now, she regretted calling out. The creature had found her behind the dumpster which it picked up and threw out of the way. She let out a spine-chilling scream as she ran off as far as she could._

_Then, she saw him. It was someone she knew and he was just standing there while she was running her butt off. "Tommy!" She cried out, wrapping her friend in a hug. "Oh, God! I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life. Come on, we need to get out of here!" She tried pulling Tommy's arm, so he would start running, but he wouldn't move. "What are you doing? We have to get out of here!"_

_"Why?" He asked, his voice sullen._

_"Why? Don't you see the giant monster who's trying to kill me? We have to run or he'll kill us!"_

_"Us?" Tommy asked, looking at her with a puzzled look. Then, his expression changed. He had an evil glint in his eyes with a smile to match. "What us? It's _you_ he's after."_

_"What? Tommy, what are you saying?"_

_"Deal with him, yourself, _Green _Ranger!" He violently shoved her to the ground. _

_She landed with an "oof!" But, she realized that she was now in her ranger suit and the city was quiet. "What happened?" She asked, standing up and looking around for Tommy, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Tommy? Jason? Anyone?" She called out as the streets vanished, as did what little light there was. "Hello?"_

_Then, there was silence. Pure, horrible silence._

_But, in the distance, there was a loud, deep chuckle. One that she recognized._

* * *

Tommy shook Melissa as hard as he could, without hurting her. But, there was no waking her as she rolled violently in her bed. "Mel? Mel, come on! Wake up!" He said to her.

"Tommy?" Jason called out as he entered the house.

"In here!" Tommy called back.

"I came as soon as I could. What's wrong?"

"I don't know. She looks like she's scared to death… I can't wake her. Something must be wrong."

Jason took Tommy's place as he bent low to Melissa's ear and tried to calm her down. His soothing voice seemed to do the trick. "Mel? Mel, can you hear me? I need you to wake up, sweetie. Wake up."

Tommy stared in awe at the sight before him. Melissa's body was now completely relaxed as Jason whispered in her ear. He now knew that the two of them had a connection between them that he wished he had with a certain someone.

"Mel, please wake up." Jason said, louder now.

To both men's surprise, Melissa's eyes jutted open and she quickly sat up, panting violently. She looked wildly around the room as if she was looking for something.

"Mel?" Tommy asked. "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" She asked. "How did I get here?"

"You've been here this whole time." Jason said, sitting next to her on the bed and looked at her worriedly.

"No. I couldn't have. I was somewhere else."

"Mel, you were having a bad nightmare." Tommy said. "You _have_ been here this whole time."

She roughly rubbed her eyes and stared at the two men in front of her. "You're sure?"

"Yeah. What were you dreaming about? You looked as though you were scared to death." Tommy said, placing a caring hand on her shoulder.

"I can't explain it. All I remember is that Reefside was deserted and I was being chased by this… thing." She paused for a second, before she let out a loud gasp. "I saw Zordon!"

Jason and Tommy exchanged a surprised glance. "What?" They asked in unison.

"Yeah, I know how crazy that sounds, but I saw him and he talked to me." A smile appeared on her lips for the first time that night.

"About what?" Jason asked.

"I can't explain it, but he sort of told me about my powers and how it was my destiny to have them, just as it had been to get the Green Ranger gem in high school… I'm the only one who can handle these powers. That's why the Dino Gem chose me."

"I'm not sure I understand." The former first Red Ranger spoke up.

"When Zedd stole my powers, it made my body stronger than before. So, then, it made me able to carry these abilities."

"So, Zedd did you a favor?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah. I suppose he did." She gave a small smile. It was rather funny.

"So, what does this mean for your abilities?" Jason asked.

She didn't say anything to answer him, at first. She only took a deep breath and focused on the closed window on the other side of the room. In front of both men's eyes, the window opened, letting in a cool breeze. "I'd say they're pretty much in check."


	26. Chapter Twenty Six

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

****

Mesogog fell back into his chair as he gave his brain a rest. Invading the girl's dreams was harder than he had expected and he had been drained more than anticipated. But, he wouldn't let that bother him. There was something else plaguing his mind.

"How did it go sir?" Elsa asked. Her master only growled evilly at her. "I'm guessing not very well."

"It was going according to plan, but them, something interfered. Something that I couldn't break through. There is something that is protecting her and I need to find out what."

"And how are you going to do that? With her powers increasing. You'll be no match for her." She had said it without thinking. She was sure that she would be pubished for it.

The evil creature looked as though he was about to hit her, but then, realized that it was true. "You are right. Perhaps we should let _Mercer_ have a talk with her. Possibly that fool will make himself useful, for once."

* * *

Conner swept the floors of the Red Dragon Karate Studio, trying to catch a glimpse of Jason while teaching a few young children. He smiled to himself as he watched. It was good to see how much he was respected by them. Jason was a good teacher too. The class was interested in learning what he knew and it seemed as though they were having fun.

"Having fun, Conner?" A familiar voice asked.

He turned to see Melissa standing there, notebook in hand and slightly drenched. "Hey, Mel, what are you doing here?"

"I was working in the park when it started to rain, so I decided to take shelter. Plus, it's been a while sine I last saw Jason teach. Makes me wonder if she's still got it." She then realized that Conner was trying not to laugh as he looked at something behind her. "What?" She asked as she turned. She couldn't help but laugh at what she saw.

"Are you saying I'm too old?" Jason asked while standing right behind her. "Is that what you're saying?"

"No, Jase. I didn't mean it, like that. I only meant that it's been a while since you taught. That's all I meant." She tried to explain.

"Yeah, sure." He hugged her to show that he wasn't really mad.

"I think I'll just get back to work." Conner said, dragging his broom behind him.

"So, how's he doing?"

"Very well. He's a good worker."

"Unless he has to run off to save the world." She finished for him.

"Well, yeah." He said, leading her over to a bench on the side of the mat. "But, he comes back and finishes where he left off." She only smiled at him as he placed a gentle hand on hers. "So, how are you doing? I'm surprised Tommy let you out of the lab."

"Me too, but I'm doing okay. Nothing strange has happened to me, today… yet. And I use that term loosely."

"So, you really think you have it all in control?" He asked.

"Like I told you, before. It's like I know that I can. I just can't explain how I know… It's complicated."

"And confusing." He agreed as he heard the front doors open to see a very well-dressed man in a suit enter the studio. "Who's that?"

"I'm not sure." Melissa answered as she looked in the same direction.

"That's Anton Mercer. Trent's dad." Conner explained as he rushed over to them to inform them.

"So, what does he want?" Jason asked as he saw the man walking toward them. Jason had been informed of who and where Trent was at this time. Tommy had shown videos of the teen's fighting ability. He thought the kid was pretty gifted.

"Jason Lee?" Anton asked.

"Yes?" Jason asked, standing up from the bench to speak to the man.

"Anton Mercer. I hear you just opened." The older man looked around the room as if to study it.

"Yeah. Last week, I did… Can I ask what this visit is about?"

"I was just interested in taking a look at your facility. It's very nice. I suggest you keep up the good work." He then turned his attention to Melissa. "And who is this vision of beauty?" He gently took her hand and placed a light kiss on it.

"Melissa Baker, New York Times, Mr. Mercer. It's a pleasure to meet you." She shuddered slightly and let out a soft gasp when his lips touched her skin. There was something about him that was familiar.

"Mel, you okay?" Jason asked when he noticed this.

She nodded as Anton gave her puzzled look, but then continued with what he was going to say. "Charmed, Ms. Baker… McKnight, it's good to see that you've joined the working world. Keep it up."

"Sure." Conner said, waiting for him to leave.

Anton nodded to the three of them before making his exit. "Good-bye, for now."

When Melissa was satisfied that he was gone, she shuddered once again. "Okay, that was weird."

"What happened?" Jason asked.

"I dunno. But, I felt like I should know him. There's just something about him that seems familiar. It's creepy." She hugged herself tightly as she thought to herself. What was it about him that seemed so familiar?

* * *

Tommy let out a long sigh as he stared at the telephone. He wanted to make a call, but he wasn't sure if he had the capacity to do it. It would be very hard for him to do, since he hadn't spoken to this person in years. He didn't know why he had gotten a sudden urge to contact them; he just felt it was necessary.

He rubbed his face with his hands and rested his chin on them as he folded them under him and continued to stare. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. But, why? He began to think of what he could say to them, yet he couldn't even explain it to himself.

He was too deep in thought to notice Melissa walking into the living room. "Hey." She said, as she looked through the pages of her notebook. She gave him a puzzled look when he didn't say anything. "Tommy?" She asked. He continued to stare at the telephone. She bent down to his level to speak to him. "You know, it'll never ring if you keep staring at it."

That seemed to have done it. Tommy shook out of his daze and looked at her. "Huh?"

Melissa laughed as she looked at him. "Are you okay? You look kind of… I dunno, weird."

He nodded. "I'm fine. There's nothing wrong."

"Okay, I know what that means." She took a seat next to him on the couch. She figured that this was going to take a while, since he didn't want to directly come out and say it. "What's up?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked. He was pretending not to know what she was talking about.

She knew what this was about. "You still miss her, huh?" He gave her a confused look. "Don't play dumb with me. I know you and I know what you're feeling… Don't forget that."

He let out a long, frustrated sigh and nodded. "Yeah, I do miss her… I see the way you and Jase act and I just miss what we had. I mean, it was because of him that you were able to be awoken the other night. I felt so helpless as I saw how much of a connection the two of you have. I miss having that."

Her lips curled slightly at the ends as she smirked at him. She would admit that she missed seeing him truly happy. "Then, why don't you call her?"

"And say what? 'I know it's been years, but would you like to go back out with me?' I don't think she'd buy that." He was right. No one would fall for a line like that and she knew it.

She placed a caring hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed. "Look, she probably misses you just as much, so call her. Just don't use a stupid line like that."

That made him laugh. "Thanks. I needed that."

"I know." She said, jokingly. She paused as she contemplated on telling him what had happened at Jason's gym earlier. But, she figured that he had a right to know and he was the one who knew more about Anton Mercer than anyone. "I met your old partner, today."

He gave her a puzzled look as if he didn't know who she was talking about. "Who?"

"Anton Mercer… quite the sleazebag, I must say." She truly meant what she was saying. The first moment she saw that man, she knew that there was something about him that she didn't like. Plus, there was the fact that he felt familiar to her. She could have sworn that she had met him before. And she was going to find out why that was.

* * *

**Okay, yeah, i know. It's been a while since I last updated. But, with work and school and friends, it's hard to keep up with stuff. Plus, I've been trying to finish this chapter for a week and a half and nothing had come to me until last night.**

**So, here is the next chapter. Please read and review. Please, ask questions, send suggestions, tell me how much you hate my hair. I don't care what you write really. I'll just be happy that you read it.**

**Thanks for reading, i'll try to get the next chapter up soon.**


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

Tommy and Melissa shared their opinions of Anton Mercer more, that night, telling one another what they really thought of him. Tommy told the truth, saying that didn't think that Anton was all that bad, because he once knew him as an old friend and it was a recent thing when he became this over-bearing demon who only cared about money and success. But, he knew that his old friend was still in there somewhere. He just hoped that he could help him find it.

Melissa found this intriguing and decided to do a little bit of research on what had happened to the once-peaceful man. She found herself sitting at the Cybercafe, looking up old newspaper reports on Mercer, yet she couldn't find anything that could help her. There were all stories of his accomplishments as a scientist and his urges to buy buildings that seemed to not be important to him; the Cybercafe being one. But, she found nothing suspicious on what would change his attitude about life. She was beginning to suspect that the money just went to his head.

She let out an exasperated sigh and got up from the cubicle, an empty glass in hand. Everything snapped and cracked as she stood. She had been sitting there longer than she realized. She walked over to the bar where Hayley was standing, taking a break from the rush of teenagers that had just entered the building.

"Another milkshake?" Hayley asked, not really paying attention to her, but being nice since she was a paying customer.

Melissa nodded. "Please."

Hayley let out an exasperated sigh and she obliged and fetched the triple-chocolate milkshake, one made with chocolate milk, chocolate ice cream, and large chunks of chocolate. It was famous in Reefside. "Coming right up."

The two were silent for a moment, but Melissa just couldn't stand the silence; plus there was the fact that she knew that Hayley didn't like her and she wanted to know why. So, she figured that now was as good a time as any to ask. "Hayley, do you think we can talk?" She asked, kindly. She didn't want to scare her off by acting like a jerk.

"About what?" Hayley asked, thinking that this wasn't important. She picked at her nails as she leaned on the bar, letting the shake mix thoroughly.

"About why you don't like me."

That struck a cord. Hayley hadn't realized that it was that obvious that she didn't like Melissa. She thought she hid it pretty well. But, of course Melissa was no ordinary person. She tried to make it look as though she didn't know what the blond was talking about. "I don't know what you mean."

Melissa gave her a stern look as she leaned on the counter. "Please. I know you don't like me. You haven't liked me since the first day that I met you… And this isn't just my ability talking. I can tell when someone doesn't like me."

Hayley let out a long sigh before she answered. She didn't want it to come to this. She had hoped that she would never have to say it, but she figured that she had to now. "I… I just don't trust you. I feel as though you're playing some trick on all of us to make us believe that you're who you really are. Not to mention toying with both Tommy and Jason."

"Why would I toy with them? I love them both. Tommy is the greatest friend I could ever have in the world and I can't imagine ever not knowing him. And Jason… Jason's made me feel like I never could. I feel whole when I'm around him… So, there would be no way that I could toy with them. Either of them."

Hayley lowered her head in shame. She couldn't believe how terrible she had acted toward the younger woman. She now believed that she was telling the truth. There was something in her words as she spoke that told her the truth. "I am _so_ sorry. I don't know what I was thinking."

Melissa wanted to give her some words of comfort, now that she knew that the two had made peace, but the familiar tones of her communicator going off distracted her. "Well, let's not worry about that, right now. But, no hard feelings, right?"

Hayley smiled widely. "Right."

* * *

Tommy sat at the main console of the computer, typing quickly as the alarm sounded. "Come on, where are you?" He asked as he watched the other rangers fighting a fully charged Zeltrax. The teens weren't doing so well. Zeltrax was more powerful than ever and they needed help.

A column of green light appeared behind him, from which Melissa and Hayley both materialized. "Sorry we're late. We had a little unfinished business to take care of. What's up?" Melissa asked.

"Zeltrax is back and the kids are struggling with him. He's too powerful for them to take on by themselves."

"You two have to get over there." Hayley said, pulling Tommy out of her seat by his shirt and replacing him in the seat.

"Right." Tommy said, turning his attention to Melissa. "Ready?"

"Ready!" She replied.

They both flicked their wrists to reveal their morphers. "Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

"Green Dino Raptor, Power Up!"

* * *

Conner and Ethan were both sent to the ground as Zeltrax attacked them both with his sword. The Blue Ranger's shield was tossed aside like a piece of scrap paper, while the Red Ranger's staff was sent flying into a tree, where it remained stuck.

Conner looked at Ethan as he panted loudly. "Man, who knew he had so much power?"

Ethan nodded behind his helmet. "I know. Where'd it come from?"

It was Kira's turn to attack with her Ptera Grips, but, she was no match for him. He sent her quickly to the ground, a loud cackle escaping from what someone might call a mouth. "It seems as though I am now too powerful even for the Power Rangers to defeat." He laughed once again.

"Think again, Zeltrax!" Melissa called out as she and Tommy pulled up on him Brachio-quad.

"There's still two more to deal with!" Tommy finished for her as they both climbed off of the vehicle and unsheathed their weapons. "Brachio Staff!"

"Raptor Whip!" Melissa called out to her weapon, bringing it down to snap on the ground.

Zeltrax turned to face them, quickly getting into his fighting stance. "Well, well, it looks like this is going to be a good day. Now, I can destroy all of you!"

"I'd like to see you try!" The Black Ranger said, charging toward his old foe. He swung his Barchio Staff at Zeltrax's sword. Sparks emitted from both weapons, sending both adversaries back.

It was the Green Ranger's turn. She stepped up, swinging her whip above her head. "Raptor Whip, Thunder Crash!" She cried out, bringing it down onto Zeltrax's torso. The hit sent sparks throughout his body and made him fall back from the force, but it didn't seem to do much damage.

Zeltrax let out a deep, throaty laugh as he regained his composure. "Not even the most _powerful_ of Rangers are no match for me… Time to say goodnight." He said, raising his sword above his head as he charged it up for a full-force strike. Tommy and Melissa stood down, but didn't fear him as they both jumped out of the path of the blade, landing behind the cyborg.

"Double team?" Tommy asked.

"Right!" Melissa agreed as she put away her whip and pulled out her saber. They charged at Zeltrax, both missing him and getting hit in the process. They fell to the ground with a loud thud, their weapons flying from their grasps. Melissa could feel the anger running through her veins as she stared at the evil face of her enemy. That was the last straw. "That's it! I can't take it anymore!" She slammed her fist on the ground and rested on her knees, since she was too weak to get up on her feet. But, it didn't matter. All she needed was enough room to do what she was about to do.

Zeltrax chuckled loudly as he stood above her. "Too much for you, Green Ranger?"

"You wish." She pulled her arms back, cupping her hands, which were starting to turn red. "Raptor Blaze!" Flames started to emit from her hands as she reached back more as she became ready to shoot. "Fire!" A giant fire ball formed in her arms as she flung it at the cyborg.

Zeltrax fell back and landed with a thud on the ground, smoke emitting from parts of his armor. The Rangers stood up and slowly walked over to the smoking wreckage, careful for they knew what was usual about the monsters they had fought.

"Careful." Tommy said as he leaned over his former friend.

"We shouldn't be standing here." Melissa said.

"Why not?" Conner asked.

Before any of them knew it, Zeltrax exploded as he was finally defeated. The Rangers flew back and landed harshly on the ground, all of them unmorphing them all, their weapons disappearing from where they were laying.

"That's why." Melissa finished as she slowly climbed back to her feet, helping the others in the process.

"What a ride!" Ethan said as he regained his balance.

"Just for the record, let's never do that again." Kira said as she was helped to her feet.

"I'm all for that." Conner said as the two teens helped him to his feet.

Tommy didn't say anything as he stared at the spot where Zeltrax previously lay. "So long, Smitty." He said, softly.

Melissa put a caring hand on his shoulder for reassurance. "It'll be okay." She said.

He nodded. "I know."

The two adults quickly looked up as they heard a deep, maniacal laugh. The teens followed their gaze as their eyes set upon the creature before them. Their eyes all went wide at the sight.

"What do you want?" Conner asked, cruelly.

The creature laughed more. "Your destruction." It said, unsheathing its weapon as it charged toward the unmorphed Rangers.

* * *

**Yes, I know it's been a while, but this chapter was hard to write, since I didn't have much motivation to write it, but now that I have, I am proud of it! Yea me!**

**So, please read and review so I can quickly get to uploading the next chapter!**

**thanks for reading!**


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight

**Yes, yes. I know. It's been too long, but I think I've finally gotten over my writer's block for this story. There are only a few chapters left, sadly, but please amke suggestions for the sequel, which I know you just cannot wait for.**

**But, here is chapter 28. Please read and review.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

The Rangers all let out exasperated sighs as they clutched at certain injuries. They really were _not_ in the mood to deal with the foe that stood in front of them. But, it looked as though he wasn't going to leave.

"Well, Rangers, it seems as though I have an advantage toward you. Though, you may have defeated Zeltrax, your powers are still weak, compared to mine."

"Goes to show what you know." Conner said.

"Yeah, we still have enough power to defeat you, lizard-face!" Ethan added.

"And you know we will." Tommy spoke up.

"Let's do it, guys!" Kira finished.

"Right!" The three men said, following Kira's lead by flicking their wrists so their morphers would appear.

"Ready?" Tommy asked.

"Ready!" Conner, Kira, and Ethan replied.

Melissa didn't say anything as she stared intently at Mesogog. She began to have the feeling that she had when she was around Anton Mercer. Then, it hit her. But, it couldn't be him, could it? She closed her eyes tight as she thought back to the conversation at Jason's gym. The two were so different, yet they seemed as if they were one in the same. But, how could that be? And if he was, what was he? '_What am I complaining about? I used to fight a flying monkey in gold armor!'_ She thought to herself. But, no matter what, he was still evil and he needed to be defeated.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!" The four cried out.

"Green Dino raptor, Power Up!" Melissa added, regretting what she was doing, deep inside.

The five Power Rangers faced their enemy, standing steady in their fighting stances. This was the battle that they were waiting for. Mesogog was going to be defeated once and for all.

"Let's do it guys." Conner said, charging toward the half-dinosaur, Kira and Ethan following. Tommy was about to follow when Melissa stopped him.

"Don't worry, Mel. We can stop him." He said, before she had the chance to say a word.

"That's not what I'm worried about." She said as she watched him join the battle.

"Aw, having second thoughts?" A maniacal voice asked from behind her. Melissa let out an exasperated sigh as she turned to see Elsa standing right behind her. She really was not in the mood for this. "Let me put you out of your misery." Elsa swung her sword at Melissa who quickly dodged out of the way.

"I _really_ don't need this, right now."

"Too bad." Elsa said. "I do."

Melissa unsheathed her own sword and began to swing furiously at Elsa. She wanted to get this over with. She needed to speak to Tommy about Mesogog… Anton… whoever he was.

But, it seemed Elsa had other plans for the Green Ranger. She wanted this woman to be destroyed. One less do-gooder in the world was just fine with her.

Melissa shoved the general back. "I really don't have time for this." She raised her sword high above her head and brought it down with a clang. "Tsunami Blade!" She cried out.

Elsa's eyes went wide as a tidal wave appeared from somewhere behind the Green Ranger. The giant wave came crashing down on top of Elsa, leaving her stunned.

"Elsa, you really are a drip." She said as she slashed her with her sword.

Elsa fell to the ground with a thud. "You'll be sorry you ever crossed Mesogog." She said before she raised her sword into the air and teleported back to the lair.

"Yeah, that'll be the day." Melissa quickly rushed to help the other rangers who were not having much luck with the villain. She watched as Ethan was the last one sent to the ground.

"I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. Why send my generals when it was just as easy to defeat you, myself?"

"You haven't won, yet." The Green Ranger said her weapon away and standing in her fighting stance.

Mesogog smiled evilly at her as he turned to face her. He didn't immediately attack which startled the other rangers as their friend was the last one to face the evil creature.

"Mel, be careful." She heard Jason say over the communicators. It was likely that he had rushed over to help Hayley, so that she didn't have to do everything herself. It made her feel more confindent to hear his voice. It gave her something to look forward to after this battle was over.

"Yes, you might want to be careful, human. You never know what dangers await you." Mesogog said, evilly as the two began to circle one another.

"I'm not afraid of you, Mesogog. I know who you really are."

"Really? Well, now, we can't have that." He charged at Melissa who was quickly and easily dodging the attacks. Her newfound powers seemed even more of a challenge than the evil creature realized. Yet, they still fought.

Tommy watched in agony at the sight before him. He was once again de-morphed and he was clutching his ribs which were pounding with pain. He couldn't stand watching his friend have to fight this beast on her own. She needed help. But, he was too weak to morph again; as were the others.

He slowly moved his bracelet to his mouth and rigidly spoke. "Hayley… call Trent… We need… some… back up."

"I've already tried, Tommy, but he's not responding. There's too much interference of power. So, he must be very near to it."

"I hope so. We can't hold out much longer." He said as Melissa staggered back and fell to one knee, but quickly got up again and kept on fighting.

* * *

Trent Mercer, the White Ranger, slowly entered the dark cave, the only light being the torch he held in his outstretched hand. This was the place he needed to be. He could feel the energy of what he was to find coursing through his body. He was getting close.

He turned down a dark corridor, paying close attention to the floor and walls, making sure that there were no booby-traps that he could set off. But, as he entered the chamber at the end of the corridor, he knew he didn't need to be careful anymore. He had found what he'd been looking for.

He approached the pedestal in the center of the room on which the artifact floated in the air. "I can't believe this. I came all this way for a measly coin?" He asked to himself as he grabbed it from where it hovered. Indeed it was a small, gold coin, but set inside of it was a small, green gem. It seemed ordinary enough and didn't look dangerous, but then, why was it important. "Oh, well. Dr. O. is the king on this stuff." He said, putting the coin into his pocket and bringing his communicator to his lips. "Hayley, I've got it."

"Great. Hang on." She said.

He wondered what she was talking about as he was engulfed in a white light and began to disappear from where he stood.

* * *

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	29. Chapter Twenty Nine

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

Trent now found himself in the lab, the white light long gone. "Whoa! What was that?" He asked, trying to regain his balance.

"Congratulations, Trent. You've just been teleported." Jason said, patting the teen on the back, gently. He remembered the first time he teleported. Unfortunately, he wasn't lucky enough to land on his feel. "It'll take some getting used to."

"Uh, okay." The White Ranger said, still dazed as he looked at the former Red Ranger, not recognizing him. "Who are you?"

"A friend of Tommy and Mel's." The older man simply said.

"Oh… Who's Mel?" This was all too confusing for him. What had he missed while he was gone?

"Nevermind that, now. The others are up against Mesogog and they aren't doing so well." Hayley said. "Give me the coin." She held out her hand in waiting.

"Okay, but I don't know what good it'll do." Trent pulled the coin/gem hybrid from his pocket and placed it in Hayley's flat palm. "What kind of power can _that_ have?"

"Just think about how much power your Dino Gem has and double it." The red head said as she took the gem and placed it into what looked to be a simple Thundermax Laser gun. "Okay, all you have to do is aim and fire. That should take care of Mesogog."

"Right… Great." Trent said, apprehensively as he took the laser and flicked his wrist. "White Ranger, Dino Power."

* * *

The Green Ranger fell to the ground with a thud, her powers finally failing her as she was un-morphed. She panted hard and loud as she tried to lift herself off the ground, but couldn't. She was too weak; as were the others.

Mesogog loomed over all of them; he was going to enjoy turning their minds to mush. He cackled evilly as he savored the moment.

"Great, we came all this way to be killed by some crazed monster." Ethan said, wishing his gem would let him morph again.

"Yeah, but it was a good run." Conner said.

"Too bad we couldn't save the world one final time." Kira added.

"We can't let him win." Tommy said, finally getting feeling back in his legs. "There has to be a way to stop him."

"If only we could turn him back." Melissa thought out loud.

"Back? Back into what?" Conner asked.

Melissa stared into Mesogog's eyes with sympathy. "He's human." She said. The others didn't make a sound, but she knew that they were surprised at the fact.

"How right you are. Too bad you'll never see that half again." He began to use his mind torture on them. They all writhed in pain before him.

Suddenly, the torture stopped as Mesogog grabbed for his own head. The rangers all looked up to see him writhing in pain, his face shifting from lizard to human. His mutations had been erratic and it seemed as though Mercer was becoming able to fight his other half.

"Dr. O!" A familiar voice called out from behind Tommy. The Black ranger turned to see his student standing there, holding a laser gun in his hand. Trent tossed the gun to his teacher who aimed and fired at Mesogog as he began to split into two. Trent would have done it himself, but there was the fact that his father was part of the creature and he just couldn't bear to hurt him.

There was a burst of light which blinded them all. They all had to shield their eyes from how bright it was. When the light began to fade, they were all stunned at what they saw. Mesogog stood there, but along side him now stood Anton Mercer.

"Dad!" Trent cheered. "Power Down!" He rushed over to his father, hugging him tight as the creature looked around dazed.

"This is not over with, Rangers!" He cried out before he disappeared from their sight.

The rangers all climbed back to their feet as they stared at the Mercers.

"Anton?" Tommy asked.

Anton looked up at his former partner and smiled. It was a weak smile, yet it was still one. "Tommy. It's good to see you again… I mean it, this time." He said as she leaned on Trent's shoulder for support. The separation had taken a lot out of him, which would return in time.

"It's over." Ethan said, dumbfounded. It just seemed so bittersweet that it was all over with.

"Not completely, Ethan." Melissa said. "Just because the two are finally separated, doesn't mean Mesogog won't still try to destroy the planet."

"She's right. It seems like we have a lot of work ahead of us." Anton said.

"We?" Kira asked.

"That is, if all of you agree to let me help you?"

They all turned to look at Tommy, for only he would be able to answer that question. He stood there for a moment, his arms crossed over his chest as he though. It was a risk to trust the man in front of him, he knew. But, as he looked as his face, he seemed like a new man to him. The all of their surprise, he held out his hand. "We'd be happy to have you." He said.

Anton smiled and took Tommy's hand into his as they shook. "Excellent."

* * *

The rangers all arrived back at the lab, still clutching their various pains and taking seats wherever they could find them. Melissa took a seat on the stairs, her head in her hands. Jason sat next to her, slinging his arm around her shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay." He said, softly.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Me too."

Hayley turned her chair around to face them all. She looked at all of them in turn. "You all did good." She furrowed her brow for a second. One of them was missing. "Where's Trent?"

"He decided to take his dad home. He figured the separation would have taken a lot out of him." Tommy said, taking a seat in his own chair.

"At least he'll be around to help out. He knows more than Dr. O. about what the Tyrannodrones and monsters are capable of." Conner said, leaning against one of the computer consoles.

"That might not be true, Conner." Hayley said. "It might be possible that Anton was cut off when he became Mesogog. He might not know anything of his plans."

"It looks like we still have a long way to go." Kira said, taking a seat on the floor.

"Yeah and now that we have Mel on the team, it's basically in the bag." Ethan said, taking a seat next to Kira.

Melissa looked up at Ethan with a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, just that, you'll be a big help to us."

"Oh… Yeah… And now that the morphers have the teleportation chips installed, it'll be easy for me to go back and forth from New York when you guys need me." She was beginning to get baffled looks from the others. "What?"

"You mean you're not going to stay?" Conner asked.

She let out a short laugh. "I wish I could, but my whole life is back in New York; my friends, my family, my job. I can't just pack up and leave all of it behind… no matter how much I want to stay." She looked at Jason with sympathetic eyes. She knew that this would affect him most of all.

"I was hoping you would stay." He said, sadly.

"I know… but I can't."

He nodded disappointment clear on his face. "Yeah…" He trailed off as he got up and headed up the stairs.

"Jase… Jason!" She called to him. He didn't answer as they all heard the front door slam. "I _do_ want to stay, but I can't. New York is my home."

"And that will never change." Tommy said. "Give him some time. He'll come around."

"I hope." She said, resting her head on her hands.

* * *

**So, I guess the countdown has started, right? There's at least two more chapters left to go, before this work of fiction has ended. But, no need to worry. I do plan to write a sequel. I just need to get a few ideas on how to make sure it works the way I want it to.**

**So, if you'd like to, please make a suggestion, one that you will be credited for.**

**Please read and review.**


	30. Chapter Thirty

**Chapter Thirty**

Tommy decided to give Jason the night to think things through. He'd promised Melissa that he would speak to him, so she wouldn't have to worry about him and keep her mind on her and Kira's performance at Hayley's. Though, he wasn't sure what good it would do. Jason really seemed heart broken, this time.

Tommy entered the gym, surprised to find no one, except Jason, in the building. Usually there would be students practicing on the mats, but there was no one. The science teacher figured it was because his friend had been looking forward to seeing Melissa at the Cybercafe and had been planning to close the gym.

Jason was doing what he did the last time he was upset; he was working on killing his knuckles by not wearing gloves while punching the heavy bag. But, again, he didn't seem to care.

"Hey." Tommy said.

"Hey." Jason replied, his punching becoming more fierce.

The science teacher let out an exasperated sigh. "Bro, why are you letting yourself fall apart like this?"

Jason finally stopped punching the bag and looked at his friend, pain in his eyes.  "Why? Because, she's leaving. She's going back to her _high-class_ city… she's leaving _us_… she's leaving the _team_… she's leaving…" He paused, not wanting to say it.

"You?" Tommy asked.

The fighter nodded. "Yeah."

"Bro, she's not leaving you _or_ the team. She has other responsibilities and we cannot be so selfish as to not let her follow her dream... Jase, you're acting like you'll never see her again."

"I feel like it, man. I mean, look at what happened to you and Kim."

Tommy tensed up at the sound of that name. It had been so long since he had heard or even said it, but this was no time to get emotional over her. He was there for Jason. "That's different… Mel is still part of the team. You will see her again… Trust me."

"I know you're right. I don't know why I'm acting like this."

"Love can be blinding."

Jason gave Tommy a puzzled look as he was getting a smile in return.

* * *

Melissa looked around at all the people who were gathered in the Cybercafe. She had never seen so many people gathered to hear one person sing before. Kira must have made a name for herself in Reefside. The older woman was impressed. 

"Nervous?" Kira asked.

"A bit, yeah."

"It's been a while since you've been on stage; you have the right to be nervous."

"Yeah, but that's not the reason why I'm so nervous." Melissa said, her heart feeling as though it was going to pound out of her chest. "Where _is_ he?"

"You don't think Jason's going to show?"

"Well, I didn't… until now." She gave the girl a stern glare, but it was all in fun.  She was trying to make herself laugh, but it didn't seem to do much good.

Kira let out a short laugh. "Sorry. I'll leave you alone, for right now. We go on in ten minutes."

"Great." Melissa said, looking into the crowd to see Tommy enter the building, but he wasn't being followed by who she wanted to see.

Tommy approached the bar, where she sat, a small, comforting, smile on his lips. "Hey."

"Hey." She said, sadly. "He's not coming is he?"

"Look, Mel, I tried. It's up to him, now."

She nodded. "Great." She spoke sarcastically. "I really blew it, didn't I?"

"I wouldn't say that." A familiar voice said from behind her.

She turned in the stool, seeing Tommy's smile grow wider, to see Jason, clad in a red shirt and his favorite brown, leather jacket. He was holding a single red-tipped, white carnation, her favorite flower, as he stood in front of her, a smile on his lips. "Jase?" She asked.

"Yeah… Look, I'm sorry about the way I acted. I was just being selfish."

"Yeah, you were." She informed him, smiling.  She was going to milk it for all it was worth.

"You're not making this easy on me." He said, letting out a short laugh.

"Oh, I don't intend to." She said, slyly as he handed her the flower. She gratefully accepted it, broke off part of the stem and placed the flower behind her right ear. She then proceeded to place a kiss on his cheek. "I'm sorry, too."

"Don't be." He said, pulling her into a tight hug.

Tommy smiled to himself as he left them be and walked over to his students who were watching from only a few feet away.

"Wow, Dr. O., you're quite the little matchmaker." Ethan said, jokingly.

"Yeah, well, I do my best." Tommy replied, sarcastically.

"Yeah, I mean, look what you even did for Kira and Trent." Conner said, pointing over to the other couple sitting at the end of the bar.

There sat Kira and Trent, talking animatedly and Kira holding a yellow rose that was likely to come from Trent.

"Well, that wasn't my doing."

"Yeah, it was mine." Melissa said, she and Jason walking over to them. "If you'll excuse me, Kira and I have to get on stage."

Tommy gave Jason a pat on the back as they saw Hayley on stage, ready to announce Kira's performance.

"Welcome to Hayley's Cyberspace. I now present to you, a favorite of the café: Kira Ford!" The crowd roared with applause as Kira and her band walked onto the stage.

"Thank you… Um, tonight, we have a surprise for you. I have asked a close friend of mine to join me up her, tonight. So, please welcome: Melissa Baker!" The crowd applauded, a few hoots and hollers coming from the small group of men in the back as Melissa walked onto the stage and stood in front of a microphone.

"Thank you. Uh, tonight, Kira and the band are going to help me perform a song from _my_ own band days… I hope you enjoy it." She signaled to the band to begin playing.

_Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh paper flowers_

_Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh paper flowers_

Melissa strummed her guitar as she began singing, the entire audience disappearing and the sog being the only think on her mind.

_I linger in the doorway_

_Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name_

_Let me stay_

_Where the wind will whisper to me_

_Where the raindrops as their falling tell a story_

Kira joined in singing, her eyes focusing on her friends in the back, seeing the smiles on all of their faces as the two girls' voices merged together.

_In my field of paper flowers_

_And candy clouds of lullaby_

_I lie inside myself for hours_

_And watch my purple sky fly over me_

Melissa's voice stopped singing as Kira's rang throughout the establishment.

_Don't say I'm out of touch_

_With this rampant chaos—your reality_

_I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge_

_The nightmare I built my own world to escape_

The two voices merged once again as the girls both sang the chorus.

_In my field of paper flowers_

_And candy clouds of lullaby_

_I lie inside myself for hours_

_And watch my purple sky fly over me_

There was a guitar rift before only Melissa's voice and guitar were heard, her eyes focusing on Jason's.

_Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming_

_Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights_

_Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming_

_The goddess of imaginary light_

Jason smiled at her as the rest of the band continued to play and the chorus was heard again.

_In my field of paper flowers_

_And candy clouds of lullaby_

_I lie inside myself for hours_

_And watch my purple sky fly over me_

The music slowly faded as Kira finished the song.

_Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh paper flowers_

_Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh paper flowers_

The crowd roared with applause as the song ended. Kira and Melissa smiled at each other, giving one another a hug.

* * *

**One more chapter left, sadly.  Remember to make suggestions.  **

**I do not own the song 'Imaginary'.  That goes to Evanescense.**

**Please read and review.**


	31. Chapter Thirty One

**Thirty-One**

The airport was buzzing with people, the next morning as Melissa was preparing to fly home. Jason, Tommy, Hayley, Kira, Conner, Ethan, and even Trent gathered around her as they each prepared to say goodbye.

Trent shook her hand as he smiled at her. He didn't really know what to say, seeing as though he had only met her two days ago. "I wish I could've gotten to know you better."

"Don't worry. You haven't seen the last of me. You'll get sick of me real quick." She answered, smiling widely at him.

Next, it was Conner's turn, then Ethan. They each gave her a hug. They didn't have to say anything to her. She knew that they were going to miss her, but they knew that they were going to see her again. They all still had so much to do.

Kira stepped up next. "I really bad a blast. Don't be a stranger." She said, hugging the older woman.

"I don't think that'll be a problem."

Now, it was Hayley's turn. She held out her hand for Melissa to shake. "I hope things are okay between us."

Melissa nodded as she took Hayley's hand. "Me too."

Tommy stepped up and hugged her next. "I'm glad you came."

"So am I… I missed having you as a friend." She placed a light kiss on his cheek as she said good-bye.

Finally, it was Jason's turn. He hugged her tight and placed a light kiss on her forehead. "I'm going to miss you."

"I know. But, I'll see you the next time I come." She said, hugging him back. She then leaned up and placed a light kiss on his lips. She smiled at him as she pulled away. She had just realized that that had been the first time that she had done that since the two had started dating. It felt good. Too good. She had to make sure that she would make it to the gate. But, as she stared into his eyes, she felt as though she couldn't pull away. But, she had to. "I'd better go."

"Bye." The large group said, waving to her.

She waved back as she approached the gate. "Bye!" She called back as she headed toward the plane.

* * *

Tommy sat in the lab, examining the new, hybrid laser gun as Jason raced down the stairs, a large package in hand. Tommy laid down the gun and looked at his friend who had a large smile on his face. "What's up?"

"Mel sent me the article. I thought you'd want to read it."

"Yeah, sure." Tommy took the newspaper out of the large, manila envelope. He flipped through the pages to find her article in a very well-read place in the 'Around the Country' section.

**_Hometown Heroes_**

**By: Melissa Baker**

_Every child wonders what if their favorite superhero was real; I know I did. What if Batman actually roamed the streets of a city called __Gotham__ or if there was actually a woman who had wings and could fly like a hawk? Well, it seems as though that could be answered by the wonderful citizens of __Reefside, __California._

_Now, before you think that this is just going to be a dull, brainless article about someone trying to prove that superheroes are just in the minds of children, I suggest that you think otherwise. This is a true story; my true story. I witnessed astonishing happenings during an unbelievable two-week visit to the small city._

_So, let me begin by saying two words: Power Rangers. Just some kiddy comic book characters, right? Wrong!_

_I observed five different-colored, real, live, human Power Rangers, clad in Black, White, Yellow, Blue, and Red uniforms. Now, I've read at least one issue of the comic book in my time and I figured that all of the special abilities that the characters had were just exaggerated drawings. It turns out that they're not._

_I witnessed them taking long bounds through the air, using incredible weapons, fighting these horrific beings of evil. They each fought with skill and determination, trying to save the poor citizens who were running for their lives._

_You may be wondering, if I witnessed such a thing, how was I able to escape in one piece? To this day, I'm not exactly sure. I was caught in the crossfire between the Rangers and their evil, female foe, yet I was lucky enough to escape with only a few scrapes and bruises. I was rescued by the Black Ranger who quickly whisked me away to safety._

_I admit my heart was pounding with adrenaline as I stared into the dark helmet, hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever was under it. But, the glimpse never came as he quickly rushed back into battle._

_I was beginning to feel like __Lois Lane__ as these encounters between the Rangers and I happened over and over and me always ending up in some sort of danger. Yet, they didn't seem to mind, which made me wonder who they were, underneath those helmets._

_Were they just regular people, like you or me? Or were they actual beings from a distant planet? I know that the 'beings from a distant planet' idea is a stretch, but if we can have Power Ranger, why can't we have those as well? Sadly to say, though, my search to find them out was allfor naught. I was never able to figure the truth. But, I suppose that would be the point. They don't want to be found out._

_So, for now, Reefside has their little secret. But, they also have a truth. Superheroes are real. They are out there, saving the world. But, it doesn't mean that they have to have special abilities or a cool-looking uniform. If you do something courageous to help someone in need, even you can become a superhero. It just all depends, on how you go about it._

Tommy smiled as he stared at the picture of all of the rangers facing the reader as they destroyed a monster. He furrowed his brow in confusion. He felt as though he had seen this picture before. "Where'd this come from?"

"Uh, I think she asked the news station if she could borrow a pic of you guys all fighting side-by-side… Her excluded, of course."

Tommy nodded. He noticed that she hadn't included her own ranger form in the article. He figured that she thought it was for the best, seeing as though he and the others had worked together for much longer. He smiled at Jason as he began laughing. "You know she made all of this up, right? All of these… "encounters" never happened."

"I know, but she couldn't tell the truth without giving away her secret. But, it is believable."

"Yeah. I gotta hand it to her… you've got a great girl, there."

Jason nodded as he smiled to himself. "Yeah. I do... So, how are the teens dealing with the Anton issue?"

Tommy let out an exasperated sigh. "Uh, Kira's dealing, but Conner and Ethan are still kind of upset. They just don't understand why Trent hid this from all of us."

"And what do you think?"

"I understand why he did it. I suppose if I had been in the same situation, I wouldn't have told us, either. He wanted to protect his father. But, having Anton on our side will be a good thing. I know it will.At least, then, we won't have to worry about hurting an innocent person... All we need to worry about is Mesogog and what his next move is going to be."

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

**Yes, this is the last chapter of this story. Come on, you know you want to cry a tear or two.**

**I'll get started on the sequel soon. I have to figure out how everything's going to pan out and how I can include everyone that I want to.**

**Please read and review and make suggestions for the sequel. Remember, Kim will be brought in and I have a plan for a new General for Mesogog. But, I will not tell you who it'll be. Just be advised that Elsa will no longer be on Mesogog's side.**

**Read and review!**

**Thanks for reading.**

**::cough:: ::cough:: Read and Review.**


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